EVANSTON, Ill. _ Northwestern held off Illinois, 24-16, in the regular-season finale Saturday and learned its Big Ten championship opponent will be Ohio State, the victor in a stunning 62-39 victory against Michigan on Saturday.
Northwestern has now beaten Illinois four straight times after Paddy Fisher's interception of AJ Bush Jr. late in the fourth quarter dashed the Illini's hopes of an upset.
The Wildcats (8-4, 8-1 Big Ten) get to continue their banner season in their first conference title game, Saturday, Dec. 1 against the Buckeyes in Indianapolis. Then the Big Ten West champs will play in a bowl game for the fourth straight season.
The Illini (4-8, 2-7) played one of their better games of the season but failed to reach a bowl for the fourth straight year, including all three under coach Lovie Smith.
Bush played his best game in his final one, completing 23 of 39 passes for 281 yards. His 10-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Smalling with 7 minutes, 57 seconds to play brought the Illini within eight points. Bush led Illinois down the field again on its next drive, but on first-and-10 from the NU 17, Fisher's pick thwarted the Illini. The Wildcats were able to run out the clock without Illinois getting the ball back.
Northwestern's Isaiah Bowser rushed for 166 yards, 115 of them in the first half, on 18 carries. He hit his career-high mark and helped Northwestern reach a season-high rushing total on the ground by the third quarter.
Quarterback Clayton Thorson passed for 110 yards and two touchdowns, completing 12 of 18 throws.
The game was closer than expected with Northwestern's conservative game plan and Illinois' determination to keep chipping away.
Despite the Illini's spirited effort and their yardage advantage of 435-371, they were plagued by many of their typical problems. Penalties killed drives, they struggled to make plays on key third downs, and their run defense remained porous.
But the dropped passes by the Illinois wide receivers were the most noticeable issue. Bush had at least four accurate balls dropped, two each by Sam Mays and Smalling. Both of Mays' miscues took potential touchdown passes off the board.
Smalling at least made a highlight TD grab in the fourth quarter, a bobbling grab as he fell on his back against tight coverage.
