By Woodrow Carroll
It was a rare weekend for the state of Illinois’ major college football programs when Northwestern, Northern Illinois, and Illinois each recorded victories last Friday and Saturday. And for a bonus the Chicago Bears won. What is going on?
The Northwestern Wildcats (3-3 and 1-2) got things off on the right foot and recorded a 37-10 road victory over Maryland Friday, Oct. 11. Perhaps what was most impressive was how Northwestern took command in the late with a 20-3 scoring run in the fourth quarter by Northwestern. Northwestern won the conference game, 37-10, which was Northwestern’s first conference victory of the season.
The road ahead for bowl eligibility will not be easy for the Wildcats, who need six victories to qualify. Still, a satisfying victory for a team that had dropped two earlier conference games against Washington and Indiana.
Up next for the Northwestern Wildcats will be a home game Saturday, Oct. 19 at 11 a.m. against Wisconsin. While the victory over Maryland was nice, Wisconsin (4-2 and 2-1) will represent a truer test as to how good Northwestern actually is. With games against Michigan and Ohio State coming up later in the season, Northwestern will need to take care of business against Wisconsin Saturday, they want to reach bowl eligibility.
With the upset of Notre Dame now in the rear view mirror, Northern Illinois (4-2 and 1-1) recorded a 17-7 victory at Bowling Green Saturday. A victory over the Falcons of Bowling Green may not be the attention getter of taking down the Fighting Irish, but after losing its MAC opener to Buffalo, the Northern Illinois Huskies needed a victory to get back on track.
It’s homecoming week for Northern Illinois and they will play Toledo, Saturday, Oct. 19 at 2:30 p.m.. Both teams seek to stay alive in the MAC race. The loser in Saturday’s clash in DeKalb will be looking at two MAC losses and will be hard pressed to stay viable in the MAC Championship hunt.
The University if Illinois was heavily favored in its meeting with the Purdue Boilermakers Saturday in Champaign. And, early on the odds makers were on target. Starting the third quarter the Fighting Illini were up 27-3. Then things went sour in a hurry for Illinois. Before it was over, the Illini ended up needing overtime before pulling out a 50-49 victory.
Were it not for a 38 yard field goal in the waning seconds of regulation by Illinois’ David Olano, Purdue would have had a comeback victory for the ages. The Boilermakers, held to three points in the first half, put 40 on the scoreboard the final 30 minutes of regulation.
In overtime, Illinois scored and tacked on the extra point. Purdue then scored a touchdown, but opted for a two-point conversion for the victory. However, Purdue was thwarted when Illinois’ defense sacked Purdue’s quarterback, and Illinois won.
The crowd for the Purdue game was more than 55,000 and the upcoming Michigan game, Saturday, Oct. 19 at 2:30 p.m., is a sellout with 60,670 for the two teams in the Top 25.
Michigan is the standard barer of collegiate football excellence. And, fans who follow college football know what Michigan represents. If you play the Wolverines long enough, you will come out on the short end. Illinois, for instance, trails the Wolverines 72-23-2 in all the games played between the two.
The first half of the college football season is in the books. Illinois is having a great run so far this season.
Illinois will get no rest following the Michigan game, either. The Illini will play at Oregon the following week.
The next two games for the Orange & Blue might set the stage for the rest of the season, and, beyond!