By Woodrow Carroll
At one point last season, the University of Illinois football program was clearly on the upswing. After beating host Nebraska, 26-9, in late October last year, the Fighting Illini were 7-1 and ranked No. 16 in a national poll. Then things started to go sour. After that hot start last season, Illinois dropped four of its final five games, including a 19-10 decision at the hands of Mississippi State in the ReliaQuest Bowl.
This season the struggles continue for the Fighting Illini.
Friday evening Oct. 6 in Champaign, Illinois lost, 20-7, to Nebraska. The defeat left the Illini 2-4 overall and 0-3 in the Big Ten Conference. Since that hot start a year ago, the Illini’s record is 3-8 overall.
The loss to the Cornhuskers was not pretty. In the first quarter, Illinois was stopped in back-to-back possessions on the Nebraska one. The lone Illinois score came late in the first half. A 46-yard scoring pass was from Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer to Pat Bryant which made the score, 17-7 Nebraska. But, that was it for the Illini.
Life gets no better for the Orange & Blue this coming Saturday at 2:30 p.m. when Illinois is at Maryland, 5-1. The following week, Wisconsin, now 4-1 comes to Memorial Stadium in Champaign. A vast improvement on offense is clearly needed.
Northern Illinois University turned in a shocker on the upside with its 55-14 thrashing of Akron on the road Saturday, Oct. 7. The pre-game contest was viewed as a close score. The shocker was the margin of victory. It was a bit of revenge for NIU given the 44-12 NIU loss to the Zips in DeKalb last season.
Northern Illinois (2-4, 1-1, Mid-American Conference) seemingly has come alive offensively. After a strong finish at Toledo that saw the Huskies fall, 35-33. Northern Illinois broke a seven -all tie with Akron after the first quarter by scoring 28 unanswered points in the second quarter. The final score, 55-14, was set by the end of the third quarter. Both sides went scoreless the final 15 minutes.
The Huskies’ Antario Brown carried 13 times for 280 yards and four touchdowns.. Northern Illinois quarterback Rocky Lombardi, looking closer to the Lombardi who guided the Huskies to the MAC championship in 2021, threw for two scores.
Northern Illinois will be at home to Ohio, 5-1 and 1-0 in the MAC) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday for the school’s Homecoming Ohio, who has won five straight games after losing to San Diego State to open the season, is favored to capture the MAC, East so the game should be a good indication of how real is the Huskies’ new found offensive strength.
The Ohio-NIU game is the first of six for the Northern Illinois to close out the regular season. Catching Toledo for the MAC West championship is a bit of a stretch for NIU.
A more realistic target for the Cardinal and Black might be six victories and a bowl bid, meaning four wins in the team’s final six outings.
The Northwestern Wildcats had to work harder than expected in downing visiting Howard, 23-20, Saturday, Oct. 7. Two fourth-quarter scores by the Bison closed the gap before the Wildcats were strong to claim victory.
Northwestern (3-3, 1-2) will be out to defend the honor of the Land of Lincoln at noon Saturday, Oct. 14 when the Wildcats will play in Lincoln, Nebraska. Already this season the Cornhuskers have victories over both Northern Illinois and Illinois.
Is it easier to go undefeated than not win at least one game?
There are 133 major college (FBS) teams. At the midway point of the campaign only two teams, Nevada and Sam Houston State, have yet to claim a victory. A quick glance at the polls’ ranking the top teams, shows us a 14 undefeated Division I teams. Of course, when the season winds down, the ranks of the undefeated team will become smaller on the way to postseason play.
Much smaller!!!