While the Illini jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter, Northwestern stormed back in the second, tying the game at 24, before a late half field goal pulled the Illini back ahead by 3 . Northwestern red shirt quarterback has bounced back from his early turn over problems to rack up 72 yards and manage the Wildcat offense to a successful scoring drive.
The Illini offense, for its part, rolled up 303 rushing yards in the first half, led by Mikel Leshoure’s 18 carries for over 200 yards. Even so, key interceptions thrown by Eddie McGee and Nathan Scheelhaase have prevented the Illini from pulling further ahead.
The Wildcats rush offense has not exactly been dormant though, as Mark Trumpy ran for nearly 100 yards on eight carries, and for two touchdowns. The momentum seems to be swinging in the direction of Northwestern as the game has gone along, after falling behind 21-7, the Wildcat defense has only allowed two field goals while racking up 17 points of their own.
The sun is setting on Wrigley, and if the second half is anywhere near exciting as the first half, we are in for a very high scoring game with an exciting finish.