Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald and his players talked this week about how much the rivalry against Illinois and the Land of Lincoln Trophy meant to the program, and how they wanted to send the Wildcat seniors out the right way after a disappointing season.
They talked the talk, but on Saturday, they didn’t walk to the walk.
The Wildcats were no-shows that didn’t look remotely interested in competing from the opening kickoff as they were embarrassed by their in-state rivals, 47-14. It was Illinois’ first win over the Wildcats since 2014 and its largest margin of victory in the series since a 63-14 win over the winless Wildcats in 1989.
Illinois jumped all over the catatonic Cats from the opening whistle to end this one early. They built up a 28-0 lead in the second quarter after scoring four touchdowns in less than 13 minutes to blow the game open. Illinois led 37-7 at halftime, which was more points than the Illini have scored in an entire game all season.
The loss dropped Northwestern to 3-9 on the season. More importantly, the Wildcats lost the coveted Hat trophy and snapped a record six-game winning streak against the Illini.
This season marks the second time in three years that Northwestern went from first to worst in the Big Ten West. The Wildcats finished with a 1-8 division record after winning the West title a year ago. The same thing happened in 2019, a year after another West division crown in 2018.
Fitzgerald needs to put a stop to this every-other-year rollercoaster his program has been riding. But he’s got a lot of problems to fix to rebound next season.
The signs were there early that it was going to be another long day for the Wildcats. Brandon Peters hit Isaiah Williams for 25 yards right over the middle on the first play, though Illinois ended up punting on their first possession.
The dumpster fire was ignited on Northwestern’s second possession, when Andrew Marty dropped back to pass and let the ball just slip out of his hand. He didn’t get hit or even brushed on the play, but Illinois’ Isaiah Gay recovered the fumble at the NU 8. Daniel Barker ran it in on the next play for a 7-0 Illini lead.
On Marty’s next pass attempt, he fumbled the snap and was sacked for an 11-yard loss as NU wound up punting. On the ensuing Illinois possession, AJ Hampton bit on a pump fake and Peters hit a wide-open Williams down the sideline for a 39-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-0.
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That turned out to be the end for Marty, who was relieved by Ryan Hilinski. Hilinski was able to get Northwestern into Illinois territory, but a fourth-down try failed and the Illinois scoring barrage continued.
Peters hit Casey Washington, who beat Rod Heard on a deep post, for 56 yards. Chase Brown scored on a one-yard run to make it 21-0 early in the second quarter.
Hilinski made matters worse when he threw an interception over the middle to Jartavius Martin, who returned the pick 19 yards to the Northwestern 21. Williams ran it in on the next play to make it 28-0 with 11:22 left in the second quarter.
The game was pretty much decided by that point as Northwestern features the 124th-ranked offense in the country that came in averaging 16.8 points per game. It was a familiar story for the Wildcats, as turnovers and big plays proved to be their undoing.
"It was a microcosm of our season," said Fitzgerald.
The Wildcats showed some signs of life on their next drive. Hillinski connected with Malik Washington for 23 yards, converted a fourth-and-1 with a quarterback sneak, and then hit Jacob Gill for 14 yards to get Northwestern to the Illinois 1-yard line. He scored the touchdown himself to cap an 11-play, 75-yard drive.
But any warm-and-fuzzy feelings didn’t last long as Illinois continued marching up-and-down the field against a Northwestern defense that simply had no answers. At least the Wildcats stiffened in the red zone, “holding” Illinois to three James McCourt field goals to make it 37-7 at the half.
The pace slowed considerably after that, as Illinois scored just 10 points after halftime on another third-quarter McCourt field goal and a 6-yard Josh McCray run for a touchdown.
Northwestern scored its last touchdown on a one-yard leap by Evan Hull. The running back was the lone bright spot for the Wildcats, rushing for 101 yards on 32 carries to eclipse 1,000 yards on the season.
But little else went right for the Wildcats, who were outgained 459 to 241, the sixth time they finished with less than 300 total yards of offense. Hilinski went 12-for-23 passing for 123 yards and one interception.
In the final analysis, it was a fitting game to cap a season to forget for Northwestern.
