Game Day Central | Illinois 41, Northwestern 3 (FINAL)

EVANSTON — Security Sydney Brown returned a landing and an interception for scores and Illinois snapped a three-game shedding streak with a 41-3 rout of Northwestern on Saturday.

Brown raced 53 yards for a landing after Northwestern quarterback Cole Freeman fumbled, then sprinted in for a 39-yard rating off an interception, each within the third quarter.

Illinois (8-4 total, 5-4 Huge Ten) entered with an opportunity to win the Huge Ten West and advance to the convention championship for the primary time. Nonetheless, Purdue defeated Indiana 30-16 to win the division title and can play Michigan at Indianapolis subsequent Saturday.

Brown’s twin brother, operating again Chase Brown, punched in a 1-yard landing and completed with 61 yards on 19 carries. He entered main the nation in yards dashing with 1,582 yards however fell in need of Mikel Leshoure’s single-season college document of 1,697 in 2010.

Tommy DeVito threw for 136 yards on 12-for-18 passing and ran for a landing, and Reggie Love III scored on 2-yard landing run to get the Illinois offense rolling. Caleb Griffin kicked a pair of area objectives because the Illini completed with eight or extra wins for the primary time for the reason that 2007 Rose Bowl group completed 9-4.

The Illini have a successful convention document for the primary time since 2007 after they went 6-2.

The Illini handed Northwestern its eleventh straight loss following a season-opening win over Nebraska in Dublin, Eire. The Wildcats, 1-8 within the Huge Ten, managed solely Adam Stage’s area objective.

The Illini bounced again after a troublesome 19-17 loss at Michigan final week. Jake Moody made a 35-yard area objective for the Wolverines in that one with 9 seconds left, handing Illinois its third straight loss after successful six straight.

Illinois led 17-0 on the half on Love’s 2-yard TD punch-in, Griffin’s 23-yard area objective and De Vito’s 1-yard keeper with 1:25 left.

Northwestern appeared be getting on a roll with a number of drives within the first half, however Freeman, a second-year walk-on, threw three of his 4 interceptions in his second profession begin.

The Illinois protection, which entered ranked second within the nation, additionally stored Northwestern’s Evan Hull in test. The Illini restricted the operating again to 53 yards on 20 carries and three receptions for 33 yards.

Illinois put it away within the second half on Griffin’s second area objective and Brown’s TD runs.

Freeman was changed by Jack Lausch after his fourth interception.

— The Related Press

Observe together with beat author Scott Richey from Evanston as Illinois tries to do its half to maintain its Huge Ten West title hopes alive:

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Illinois is somewhat more healthy for its common season finale than it was every week in the past. Extensive receiver Pat Bryant and cornerback Tyler Pressure each made the journey to Evanston, and a group spokesman mentioned they have been “again” for the Illini. 

A wholesome Pressure means somewhat bit extra simply due to Illinois’ sudden depth points at cornerback with Taz Nicholson and Terrell Jennings each unavailable. The Illini used true freshman Xavier Scott at Michigan. Pressure does not have all that rather more expertise, however he is a minimum of in his second yr with Ryan Walters’ protection.

Casey Washington stuffed in admirably with Bryant unavailable final week, however Bryant is second-leading huge receiver behind Brian Hightower. The Jacksonville, Fla., native has caught 31 passes for 420 yards this season.

It’ll once more be the Chase Brown present at operating again, although, with Josh McCray not making the journey to Evanston. Brown would have gotten the majority of the carries, however McCray’s continued absence has impacted Illinois’ depth within the backfield.

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Merely taking part in Northwestern may be sufficient for Illinois to snap its three-game shedding streak. The Wildcats may begin its fourth string walk-on at quarterback (not that it might matter … they’ve all struggled), and, it bears repeating that they have not received on U.S. soil this season.

However, rivalry sport, Hat on the road, and so forth., ect. … Illinois cannot sleep on Northwestern. There are a number of areas the Illini might be higher than they have been within the final three video games to get off the schneid. 

As at all times, turning move-the-chains drives into scoring drives (touchdowns > area objectives) must be a precedence. It has been a battle all season. Whereas the offense has improved beneath Barry Lunney Jr., the scoring hasn’t picked up all that a lot. Now could be nearly as good a time as any to determine the right way to be higher within the purple zone.

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There are 9 NFL personnel scheduled to be in Evanston for right now’s sport. That group contains representatives from the Tennessee Titans, Atlanta Falcons, Denver Broncos, New England Patriots and 5 from the Chicago Bears. They need to get pleasure from having a Huge Ten group shut … a minimum of to scout the opposing group’s gamers.

As a result of that is virtually actually the case right now. The 1-10 Wildcats aren’t precisely transferring the NFL needle. Illinois has a number of guys which can be, together with cornerback Devon Witherspoon (perhaps taking part in his approach into the primary spherical), operating again Chase Brown, defensive deal with Johnny Newton and safeties Quan Martin and Sydney Brown. And perhaps a pair extra.

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How Huge Ten West is that this last two days of the common season? Iowa might have clinched a division title Friday with a house win in opposition to Nebraska.

However there the Cornhuskers have been taking part in spoiler. The Nebraska win pushed Iowa out of the title dialog (momentarily) and opened the door for Purdue and Illinois.

The Illini want some extra assist, in fact. The Huge Ten West championship trophy will solely make its strategy to Champaign if Purdue loses this afternoon. That Illinois-Northwestern and Purdue-Indiana will occur concurrently solely bumps up the drama degree.

In fact, ought to each Illinois and Purdue lose, the Huge Ten West title will revert to the Hawkeyes. Until its the Boilermakers left standing on the prime, someone goes to again their approach right into a title.

It did not should be like this for Illinois. Residence video games in opposition to Michigan State and Purdue offered the chance to win the division outright. It could have been the primary in program historical past. However … the Illini misplaced each. One other loss final week at Michigan made it three in a row.

Keep in mind when Illinois was 7-1 and had the world on a string? Looks as if eternally in the past. However the dream is not but completely lifeless. Higher come to phrases with rooting for the Hoosiers, Illini followers.