Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Illinois
Wildcats Fall To Resurgent Illini
11/20/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
CHAMPAIGN, Ill.-- If the Northwestern football team is looking for a rags-to-riches story for inspiration after a 3-8 season, they can certainly do worse than take a look at the time that was on the opposing sideline Saturday.
On a day where Northwestern set a season high for total offense (377 yards) and had its best rushing day in more than two years (198 yards), it was bowl-bound Illinois that grabbed the momentum and never let it go. As a result, the Illini ? which was 0-11 just three years ago but ended this year 7-4 ? defeated the Wildcats, 29-7, at Memorial Field in front of 50,137 fans.
The loss concluded NU coach Randy Walker's first season at the helm.
After relinquishing a field goal to start the game, Northwestern gave an indication it would be a good day offensively. With Damien Anderson getting off to a quick start, the Wildcats drove 77 yards on 14 plays and took a 7-3 lead when Teddy Johnson outjumped an Illini defender and caught a 17-yard pass from Zak Kustok.
The last play of the first quarter proved to be a big one, though. NU called time-out to get a punt off with the wind at its back, but J.J. Standring's 38-yard effort was returned 35 yards by Brandon Lloyd to the Wildcat 20-yard line. Less than two minutes into the second stanza, Illinois was up, 10-7, and by halftime the Illini's lead was 13 (20-7).
Illinois added a field goal in the third and a TD in the fourth quarter to close out the scoring.
Anderson ended up having a big day, rushing 25 times for 123 yards. He ended the season with 1,128 yards, the fifth-best season in Northwestern history, and with two years of eligibility still remaining he is already seventh on the 'Cats' all-time rushing list with 1,665 yards. Freshman Louis Ayeni, meanwhile, added a season-high 64 yards.
Kustok completed a season-high 16 passes for 179 yards, including five to Teddy Johnson and four to Rob Johnson.
For Illinois, Kurt Kittner completed 16-of-30 passes but was picked off two times by the Wildcats - once by Harold Blackmon and once by Rashad Morton. Prior to Saturday, Kittner had been picked off just twice the entire season. Rocky Harvey and Steve Havard each had 99 yards rushing.
