Illini Crush Northwestern 47-14
By Jeff Mayfield

[November 29, 2021]   One hope that all college football fans have is for their team to not only look like but to play like a college football team.  For the last ten years that seems to have been a struggle for the Illinois Fighting Illini. However, on Saturday before a soggy and sparse crowd in Memorial Stadium, the Illini finally looked like and played like a really good college football team as they totally dismantled the Northwestern Wildcats, 47-14.

AND the Illini did it the way a fan would draw it up. Even though they lost the coin toss, they won the early field position battle. They also capitalized on early Northwestern miscues, mental errors, and turnovers. Daniel Barker took the rare tight end sweep in for 8 yards and the first score of the day, followed by the first of two Isaiah Williams touchdowns a 39-yard pass from Brandon Peters and later a 21-run to pay dirt sandwiched around a 1-yard Chase Brown blast for a score. And all of that led to a 28-0 lead.

That’s the way to make an early statement and the way to take care of business at home. The Wildcats finally got on the board for a short TD run but that didn’t even give the Illini pause for a hiccup. They kept fighting, attacking, and coming after the Wildcats all game long evidenced by three James McCourt field goals all coming within the last 4:07 of the first half giving Illinois a 37-7 lead at intermission!

And the avalanche of scoring continued into the second half. Another James McCourt field goal and an 8-yard Josh McCray TD run made Northwestern’s final score [If it was a legitimate score & from our angle it didn’t look like one?] totally irrelevant. The final score ended the pulverization at 47-14.

Illini running back Chase Brown ran for 112 yards on the game and became only the 14th player in Illini history to go over 1000 rushing yards for a season.

It was also senior day and it is so sad to say good-bye to so many players that have meant so much to this Illini program for years. I have never liked Senior days as it is too difficult to part ways with players that have been so much fun to cover. The LDN wishes them all great success and blessings in the future.

Illinois finished the day with 466 yards of total offense, four touchdowns,and the Illini finished Bret Bielema's first regular season as head coach at 5-7 with four Big Ten Conference wins.

[By JEFF MAYFIELD]

Respond to the writer at [e-mail].