Northwestern
Indiana
Football Falls at Indiana, 56-21
11/3/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov 3, 2001
By MICHAEL MAROT
AP Sports Writer
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) - Indiana's Antwaan Randle El threw for three touchdowns and Jeremi Johnson and Levron Williams each scored three touchdowns to lead the Hoosiers past Northwestern 56-21 on Saturday.
Randle El became major college football's first 40-40 man with three first-quarter touchdown passes. Randle El has now thrown 40 TD passes and scored 40 touchdowns. He entered the game with 40 TDs rushing, 37 passing and one receiving.
Randle El opened the game with a 47-yard TD pass to Henry Frazier on Indiana's second possession. Williams then ran 6 yards for one TD and caught a 26-yard TD pass, while Johnson scored on a 10-yard pass and a 7-yard run. Randle El closed out the half with a 7-yard scoring run to make it 42-0.
He finished the day going 13-of-23 for 246 yards and rushed for 78 yards on 15 carries. The performance also moved Randle El past Iowa's Chuck Long and into second on the Big Ten Conference's career list for total offense. Randle El now has 10,399 total yards.
Northwestern (4-4, 2-4 Big Ten) tried to rally in the second half, scoring on a Zak Kustok run and two Kustok touchdown passes -- all in the third quarter.
The Hoosiers (2-5, 2-3), though, got a 1-yard run from Johnson and a 17-yard run from Williams to seal the outcome.
Williams finished with 130 yards on 26 carries, while Johnson added 94 yards on 15 carries. Indiana rushed for 316 yards.
"I'm at a loss to explain what happened in the first half," said NU head coach Randy Walker. "We fought back and didn't quit in the second half, which is an encouraging sign for the next few weeks. It's hard, however, for any team to come back from a 42-point deficit."
Kustok was 26-of-44 for 254 yards and two interceptions. Running back Damien Anderson managed 51 yards on 13 carries and sat out much of the second half after separating his left shoulder early in the third quarter.
Northwestern came up empty four times after driving inside the Hoosiers' 10-yard line. Twice, Kustok tossed interceptions. Another turnover came early in the game when Anderson fumbled on the IU 1-yard line. The fourth empty trip came on Northwestern's final drive when they turned the ball over on downs with less than a minute to play.
