EVANSTON, Ill. — Northwestern won its sixth straight game against rival Illinois with a 28-10 victory Saturday.
The No. 14 Wildcats (6-1) controlled the run game with 411 yards on a soggy and blustery Ryan Field, ensuring they head into the Big Ten championship game against No. 4 Ohio State with momentum.
Freshman running back Cam Porter led the way with 142 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries. He had just eight carries and 32 yards over the previous six games. The Wildcats averaged 7.1 yards per carry, chewing up yards and controlling the clock while totaling their most rushing yards in a game in 17 seasons.
Illinois coach Lovie Smith has lost all five of his meetings against the Wildcats. After promising its best season in his tenure, Illinois has now lost back-to-back games before the season finale in a conference cross-division game.
Northwestern’s aggressive approach paid off with four fourth-down conversions, including 3-for-3 on a single scoring drive and another on fourth-and-4 resulting in a 32-yard Evan Hull touchdown run.
Hull, a freshman who entered the game with 10 carries and 43 yards, finished with 149 yards on 13 carries.
The Wildcats went up 14-3 in the second quarter off a 2-yard touchdown run by Porter after Northwestern kept alive a 17-play, 64-yard drive. They converted on fourth-and-1, fourth-and-8 and another fourth-and-1, plus got the benefit of a questionable pass interference call against Illinois cornerback Quan Martin.
Porter also rushed for an 18-yard touchdown in the third quarter for a 21-3 lead.
Illinois missed two field goals (32 and 53 yards) but James McCourt hit a 39-yarder near the end of the first quarter for a 3-0 lead.
Northwestern didn’t look back after a 2-yard touchdown pass to Charlie Mangieri in the second quarter to take the lead. Quarterback Peyton Ramsey, who played three quarters before the Wildcats rested key starters, completed 7 of 12 passes for 82 yards.
A week after giving up 35 unanswered points in a loss against Iowa, the Illini couldn’t respond against the Wildcats. Northwestern outgained Illinois 493-262 in total yards.
Illinois didn’t reach the end zone until 8 minutes, 47 seconds remained in the game on a 46-yard pass from backup Isaiah Williams to Brian Hightower.
Illini starter Brandon Peters completed 3 of 14 passes for only 21 yards before being replaced by Williams, who completed 4 of 8 passes for 86 yards with another 38 rushing yards on seven carries.
Illinois came into the game with extra disadvantages.
The Illini announced less than an hour before kickoff that senior defensive back Tony Adams would miss the game after testing positive for COVID-19. Contact tracing protocol sidelined senior defensive back Nate Hobbs.
Junior defensive back/linebacker Delano Ware chose to leave the team this week, Illinois announced.
With injuries, Illinois said it is missing 55% of its starters on defense. Eight of 17 defensive players who have played more than 100 snaps this season were unavailable against Northwestern.
Injured defensive players who missed the game include defensive back Sydney Brown, linebacker Khalan Tolson and defensive linemen Jamal Woods, Roderick Perry and Anthony Shipton. Other injured players include receivers Kyron Cumby and Trevon Sidney.
The Illini previously announced linebacker Tariq Barnes and offensive linemen Alex Palczewski and Blake Jeresaty are out for the season with injuries.
Center Doug Kramer left the game for undisclosed reasons in the second half.
