By Woodrow Carroll
Two badly-wounded college football teams will face each other Friday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. in Champaign when Nebraska and Illinois do battle. The two Big Ten West Division clubs seek to recover from disastrous showings Saturday, Sept. 30.
Nebraska was host to Michigan and lost, 45-7. Michigan is a good side with national championship aspirations, But, Nebraska routed at home? Unacceptable for the Cornhuskers and their fans!
Illinois ventured to Purdue and lost, 44-19, in a meeting of Big Ten West rivals. Although situation is already bad enough at the moment for both teams, the loser in the Friday night Nebraska-Illinois clash, falls to 0-3 in Conference and an already dark future gets darker.
Northwestern entertained Penn State Saturday, Sept. 30 and for a time the two teams battled on even terms. At the halftime break, the score was 10-all, however, the second half belonged to the top 10 ranked visitors. The final score ended up in favor of Penn State, 41-13.
The 1950 movie, Broken Arrow, is a minor classic featuring the likes of Jimmy Stewart, Jeff Chandler, and Debra Paget. Saturday, Oct. 7, Northwestern’s next foe comes into play. One of the characters in Broken Arrow is General Howard, full name, Oliver Otis Howard. General Howard was played by actor, Basil Ruysdael.
In the years following the end of the U.S. Civil War, Howard University was created to educate and train the freed slaves. It was Civil War veteran Howard who was picked to lead the Freedman’s Bureau and his name was attached to the school.
The Howard Bison will be at Northwestern at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7. An FCS team, Howard is the Wildcats’ final foe before Northwestern (2-3, 1-2) begins a steady diet of Big Ten Conference competition.
Last season, Northern Illinois finished 3-9 overall after winning the Mid-American Conference championship the prior year. As it turned out, the most productive quarter turned in by the Huskies a year ago was a 25-7 fourth-quarter run against Toledo. It was a meaningless run given that Toledo led, 45-7 going into the final 15 minutes to make the final score, 52-32, in Toledo’s favor.
It must have been deja vu for NIU backers viewing the Northern Illinois game at Toledo Saturday, Sept. 30. Trailing Toledo, 35-20, with less than 10 minutes remaining, the Huskies tallied 13 points down the stretch to make the final score, 35-33, to end the Huskies’ comeback.
Prior to Saturday, Sept. 30, Northern Illinois had failed to score in double figures in any quarter of its previous four games. Against Toledo, the Huskies tallied 10 points in the third quarter and 16 the final quarter, without victory!
Northern Illinois, 1-4 overall and 0-1 in Mid-American Conference (MAC), will play at Akron at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7 with both teams seeking to get back on track. The Akron Zips are 1-4 and coming off a 13-10 overtime defeat to Buffalo to open MAC play.
Teams that tangle with Michigan long enough, will end up on the losing side. No long-running foe of the Wolverines comes out on top.
The football rivalry between Michigan and Ohio State is as good as it gets. The two schools are long-standing Big Ten foes and regional rivals. Each school has had its moments of glory. Going into the November 25 meeting between the two teams in Ann Arbor, Mich., the host Wolverines hold a 60-51-6 edge in the series.
Think collegiate football and the name Notre Dame pops up. Michigan stands 25-17-1 in the series against the Fighting Irish.
Take a look at how well Penn State has done against Michigan, and Ohio State for that matter. Michigan holds a 16-10 edge against Penn State
Ohio State is 23-14 confronting Penn State. The disparity in the number of games played in the two series, likely is the result of Ohio State and Penn State’s playing each other on many occasions prior to Penn State’s joining the Big Ten Conference in 1990.