By Woodrow Carroll Northern Illinois University’s 41-23 victory against Kent State in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) championship game Saturday, Dec. 4 may have been bit of a surprise to some observers. Host Kent State beat Northern Illinois, 52-47, when the two teams played in the regular season. In the MAC...
By Woodrow Carroll By halftime in the University Illinois’ 47-14 victory over visiting Northwestern University (NU) in Champaign Saturday, Nov. 27, the Illini already had scored more points than in any game this season. Illinois led Northwestern 37-7 at halftime. Prior to the game, the top Illinois total by Illinois...
By Woodrow Carroll The Northern Illinois football team had not drained the excitement pool. The Huskies went a step further. Three one-point victories in MACtion and a 22-20 victory at Toledo were not enough, because in the Saturday, Nov. 20 game in Buffalo, Northern Illinois recovered a fumble just when...
By Woodrow Carroll With a 30-29 victory over visiting Ball State last week, the Northern Illinois University Huskies collected their third one-point victory this season. Throw in a 22-20 victory at Toledo Saturday, Oct. 9 reveals that Northern Illinois has been tough at crunch time. A 32-yard field goal at...
By Woodrow Carroll For the third straight football game, the University of Illinois failed to score a touchdown in the second half. In Saturday’s game in Champaign against visiting Rutgers, a lack of late offensive punch proved fatal. The Fighting Illini led 14-10 at halftime. The visiting Scarlet Knights from...
By Woodrow Carroll Illinois head football coach Bret Bielema enjoyed victory No. 100 of his collegiate coaching career. Rest assured, it was a contested game that long will be remembered, and, not just by Bielema! On the road at Penn State and a 23- or 24-point underdog, Bielema’s Fighting Illini’s...
By Woodrow Carroll Toledo University and Bowling Green University in Ohio are approximately 20 miles apart. The past two weeks, the Toledo Rockets and the Bowling Green Falcons provided Northern Illinois with two important Mid-American Conference (MAC) victories. Each game ended under similar circumstances. Northern Illinois beat Toledo, 22-20, on...
By Woodrow Carroll There are 130 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), major college football programs this season. Who would you care to guess which two programs were shut out Saturday, Oct. 9? Time is up! The answer is Vanderbilt and Illinois. Vanderbilt fell, 42-0, to Florida and Illinois suffered a 24-0...
By Woodrow Carroll The University of Illinois football team gained its second victory of the season Saturday, Oct. 2 at home in Champaign with a 24-14 non-conference victory against Charlotte (N.C.). It was timely as fortification for the Big Ten Conference home game against Wisconsin. Illinois, 2-4 overall and 1-2...
By Woodrow Carroll In a game Northern Illinois University needed to win prior to the stretch of eight consecutive Mid-America Conference (MAC) games, the Huskies prevailed, 41-14, against the visiting Maine University Black Bears. Maine made it interesting for a while Saturday, Sept. 25. Northern Illinois, 2-2, and Maine, 1-3,...
By Woodrow Carroll In a span of less than 15 minutes, the Northern Illinois University Huskies outscored the visiting University of Wyoming Cowboys, 27-0, in the Saturday, Sept. 11 football game in DeKalb. Northern Illinois, which had looked hopelessly lost a short time earlier, was suddenly in the driver’s seat...
By Woodrow Carroll Give the University of Illinois football team credit for being entertaining. The Fighting Illini in their two games did not reach a conclusion until the final minute. Sadly, from the Illini standpoint, the second of those two Illini games did not end up a victory. The Saturday,...
By Woodrow Carroll Believe it or not, the last University of Illinois head football coach to lose his debut game at the school was Ron Turner. He and the Illini suffered a 17-point defeat at the hands of Southern Mississippi University in Champaign to begin the 1997 season that ended...
By Woodrow Carroll There are 130 FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) teams. FBS refers to the heavy hitters playing collegiate football. In theory, any one of those 130 programs could win the national championship. The reality of the situation is a bit different. What are the odds that this season’s national...
By Woodrow Carroll There is always a sense of anticipation just prior to the start of a sports season, including college football. The FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) honor of first up goes to the University of Illinois and Nebraska. It is listed as Week Zero on the schedule. Saturday, Aug....
By Woodrow Carroll Entering last weekend’s series with the Chicago Cubs, the Chicago White Sox likely had a few mild concerns; not panic. It was just a mild concern given that the Sox had lost five of seven games with AL Central Division rival Kansas City in the prior two...
By Woodrow Carroll Through Sunday, Jose Abreu of the Chicago White Sox’ was the team leader in runs batted in (RBI) with 78.. Abreu will have to do something spectacular to average an RBI per game which he did last season when he drove in 60 runs in the shortened...
By Woodrow Carroll With conference alignment expansion centered around major college football in the news, a look back is relevant. In 1947, the University of Illinois defeated UCLA, 45-14, in the Rose Bowl. The game was a shocker because UCLA went into the game as the favorite. It was the...
By Woodrow Carroll It may not rank as the quickest comeback in Chicago White Sox history, yet, what the White Sox did in their final two games against the Houston Astros Saturday and Sunday, 10-1 and 4-0 victories, certainly made with the team and fans rejoice and heave a sign...
By Woodrow Carroll Surprises, streaks, and situations, have peppered Major League Baseball (MLB) historically. It was four weeks ago that life took a dark turn for the Chicago White Sox. No sooner had the White Sox captured a victory over the Tampa Bay Rays June 16 to give the team...
