Cats’ Corner: Your source for NU athletics

Arby Fields ran for four yards to get NU to the 21, and then once again, the Cats ran a corner post and burned the Illini secondary. The pass was complete to Jeremy Ebert. Fields took two tries to punch the ball into the end zone, and with the Stefan Demos extra point, NU takes a commanding lead 21-3. The Cats scored on 12 plays, driving 81 yards in less than five minutes.

Stefan Demos’ kickoff sailed with the wind into the end zone for a touchback. Jason Ford ran for five yards on the first down, and on second, Jacob Charest passed for a first down. Ford ran again for four yards, and again on second down, Charest found Arrelious Benn for a first down. The pass went for 10 yards. Ford ran again for seven yards. Then again, the pass went to Benn, who gained 17 yards, nearly all after the catch. Ford ran on first down to continue the pattern, gaining five yards on the play. Ford ran the ball again, and fumbled, but Jeff Allen was able to recover the fumble for the Illini, and get them a first down in the process. Benn caught a pass and gained five, and was injured on the play. He was able to jog off the field himself. Charest tried to find LeShoure on a pass, but it was incomplete. On third and five, Charest took the ball all the way into the end zone himself. The Illini tried to go for two, but Nate Williams deflected the pass and the conversion was no good. The Cats remain in the lead by a good amount, 21-9. A converted two-point conversion would have cut the lead to 10, which could have made Illinois only a touchdown and field goal away from a tie.

Hunter Bates recovered the onside kick for the Cats, getting flipped over airborne in the process. Stephen Simmons started things off with a loss of one yard, and then caught a short pass from Kafka for a gain of three. On third down, Kafka threw up a lob pass to Andrew Brewer, and pass interference was called on the incomplete pass. The 15-yard penalty sets up the Cats on the 23-yard line. Two runs netted seven yards to bring up a third-and-three. Jacob Schmidt picked up two yards on the play, forcing a fourth down. NU took a timeout to avoid a false start penalty and run down the clock as much as possible. Stefan Demos missed the 31-yard field goal off the goal post, which keeps the score at 21-9.

A short kick and a good return positioned the Illini at their 36-yard line. Eddie McGee couldn’t get anywhere on the fake handoff, and was stopped in the backfield. McGee was able to use his legs on a third-and-seven to gain 12 yards and a first down. Mikel LeShoure ran for a loss of one, so on second down McGee took the ball himself and gained six yards. McGee overthrew a wide-open Arrelious Benn, bringing up a fourth down. The punt once again sailed into the end zone, so the Cats will take over at their own 20.

NU started off strong behind the legs of Arby Fields, who picked up 12 yards. Kafka found Jeremy Ebert for a gain of eight yards. But a false start set the Cats back to their own 35-yard line. Sidney Stewart ran a nice route to pick up nine yards and a first down. Arby Fields put his legs to good use again, picking up five. Kafka couldn’t find Demetrius Fields on second down, and on third he couldn’t connect with Ebert. But a roughing-the-passer penalty set up a first down. Enter Dan Persa. Stephen Simmons ran for eight, and Dan Persa ran for one, bringing up a third-and-one. Kafka came back into the game, and dove forward, picking up enough for the first down. Kafka remains in the game as the Cats continue their drive from the 25. But the quarter will come to an end. A solid offensive and defensive performance from the Cats in the quarter.

After a touchback, Mike Kafka threw an incomplete pass to Zeke Markshausen. Scott Concannon made up most of the necessary yardage with a six-yard run. On third-and-four, Kafka found Markshausen for a gain of 14. Concannon lost a yard on the first down carry. Second down was somewhat productive, as Kafka hit Demetrius Fields for five yards, bringing up a third-and-7. Kafka tried to force a pass down the sideline to Markshausen, but even he couldn’t make the play. Stefan Demos’ punt sets up the Illini on their own 20-yard line.

Daniel Dufrene rushed for six yards, and then Eddie McGee came in the game at quarterback for a gain of nine yards. After picking up the first down, Illinois seemed content with keeping the ball on the ground. That strategy ultimately backfired, as McGee lost five yards on a tackle-for-loss by Vince Browne and brought up a fourth down. The Illini had excellent coverage on the punt, and the Cats are backed up on their own half-yard line.

NU didn’t help itself by picking up an illegal snap penalty. The Cats got out of the shadow of the goalposts thanks to a second-down rush by Concannon for 13 yards. Kafka found Brewer for 11 yards and a first down, and then found him again for 52 yards, bringing the ball all the way to the Illinois 21. On nearly the exact same play that got the Cats their first touchdown, Kafka again hit Markshausen at the goal line, but he stepped out of bounds just a hair short. Kafka tried pushing it in himself but couldn’t, bringing up second down. On the second goal line attempt, Kafka got the ball into the end zone, and with the Stefan Demos extra point, NU increases its lead to 14-3. The Cats went 99 yards in seven plays, taking less than three minutes off the clock.

Mikel LeShoure continued to bob and weave his way through the Northwestern defense on the ensuing drive. The Wildcats seemed to struggle tackling him on three consecutive runs that moved the ball over the 50-yard line again. But Corey Wootton applied pressure off the edge on two plays, once forcing Jacob Charest to roll out and gain nothing, and the second time Wootton dropped him for a loss of three. Anthony Santella punted 38 yards and was fair caught at the NU 16-yard line by Brewer.

NU moved the ball to the Illinois 43-yard line and faced a fourth-and-one on a series of short passes to Sidney Stewart and Zeke Markshausen. On the fourth down attempt, Kafka fired incomplete intended for Markshausen, giving the Illini the ball with more than a minute left on the clock.

It looked like Illinois would try to drive the length and extend its lead going into halftime. Junior middle linebacker Nate Williams had other ideas. As Charest dropped back to pass, he stared down Arrelious Benn running a drag over the middle. Williams stepped in front of the pass and picked it off at NU’s 46-yard line, giving the Cats a second chance to correct their mistakes from the previous drive.

Kafka took advantage. After a 14-yard post corner to Drake Dunsmore that pushed the ball to the 28-yard line, Kafka hit Markshausen in the front right corner of the end zone for a touchdown. Kafka lofted the touch pass to Markshausen, who had a step or two on his defender. The completed pass put NU ahead 7-3.

After Demos booted the kickoff deep, Illinois was content to go into the half down by four. Coach Pat Fitzgerald has to be pleased with the score given the way the game has been played.

It took 18 minutes, but Illinois put the game’s first points on the board with a 30-yard field goal attempt from the left hash. Mikel LeShoure gained 10 yards on his first rush of the second quarter, but then the Wildcats’ defense clamped down. Senior defensive end Corey Wootton got LeShoure in a strangle-hold and threw him to the ground on one attempt, and Quentin Davie delivered a blow as well. Jacob Charest moved the chains on a third-down scramble, but Northwestern didn’t let Illinois get inside the 15-yard line. All told, Illinois went 11 plays, 54 yards to get on the board.

Mike Kafka showed that he will run the ball, if necessary, on the next play. He scrambled for three yards when the passing routes broke down. Kafka laid a beautiful pass into the hands of Sidney Stewart 40 yards down the left sideline, on what looked like a potential touchdown. But Stewart dove for the ball and dropped it. Kafka was forced to throw the ball away on third down, and Stefan Demos punted 40 yards to the Illinois 37-yard line.

Illinois pulled some trickery out of its playbook to keep the momentum in its corner, running an end around pass screen from backup quarterback Eddie McGee to Jeff Cumberland. The hijinx netted 17 yards and moved the ball into NU territory. A false start penalty and a dropped pass didn’t help the Illini move the ball. Matt Eller punted 47 yards into the end zone, giving NU the ball at its 20-yard line.

Dan Persa spelled Mike Kafka on the Cats’ next drive, rushing the ball five times, including once for a gain of 10 and once for a gain of 12. But Persa couldn’t keep the drive alive on a third-and-2 from the NU 42. Demos punted 45 yards, but an illegal block penalty was called on Illinois for 15 yards, moving the ball down to the 6. That’s where Illinois will take over after the media timeout.

Once again, Northwestern marched 47 yards on 10 plays, but stopped once it got to the Illinois 29-yard line. This time, Doug Pilcher dropped Mike Kafka for a loss of five yards on second down to make the field goal attempt longer than it should have been. Pilcher stuck his foot out on his pass rush to bring Kafka to the ground. Stefan Demos’ 50-yard field goal attempt went wide left again with plenty of distance.

Illinois got the ball back at its own 34-yard line on the ensuing drive. Sophomore running back Mikel LeShoure rushed three times for 26 yards to end the quarter, giving the Illini the ball at the Cats’ 40-yard line after the media timeout. On the first rush, LeShoure took a draw and exploded for eight yards. On the second attempt, the 6-foot, 225-pound back sliced through the middle of the NU defensive front seven like a warm knife through butter, netting 11 yards. On third, LeShoure took a zone attempt for eight.

At the conclusion of an ugly opening period, the Cats will need to slow down the run and get the ball into the end zone.

Though Illinois is favored by oddsmakers in this in-state conference test, both teams have said to throw out the rankings and records in the rivalry game…

Northwestern won the coin toss in the opening Land of Lincoln Trophy Game, and it opted to defer to the second half. It paid off on the Illini’s first possession of the game, as the Wildcats were able to force a three-and-out. Arrelious Benn returned the opening kickoff to the 41-yard line after breaking a tackle by Charles Brown. Jordan Mabin eventually tackled Benn. Illinois quarterback Jacob Charest completed two passes for one yard.

But once the Cats got the ball on offense, they didn’t do much better. Mike Kafka completed a pass to Scott Concannon on the right side for nine yards on first down, but Kafka was called for intentional grounding on second down. On third, Kafka was pressured from both sides, was afraid to take off and scramble, and fired incomplete for Sidney Stewart over the middle. On Stefan Demos’ punt, the attempted rugby-style boot went off the side of his foot for 12 yards, giving Illinois the ball at the NU 35.

Just when it looked like Illinois would be the first team to put points on the board, it didn’t. The Illini drove down to the Cats’ 4-yard line, but stalled there. Then, kicker Matt Eller missed wide left on a 23-yard field goal attempt from the left hash. Illinois got deep in NU territory on a 20-yard pass completion from Charest to Jarred Fayson on a post corner. On third-and-five, Charest overthrew Benn in the end zone.

The Cats took over in the shadow of their own goal post, but quickly moved the ball down the field with a series of quick passes and runs. The longest pass of the drive was a 25-yard strike from Kafka to Zeke Markshausen. Once NU got inside of Illinois’ red zone, it stopped. What was originally supposed to be a 42-yard field goal turned into a 47-yard attempt after a false start penalty by Brendan Mitchell. Demos missed wide left, though the kick had plenty of distance. That’s his first real field goal miss of the season — the other two were blocked.

Through the first eight minutes of action, the game has been ugly. Both teams are struggling to get any kind of momentum going.

Hello Northwestern fans, and welcome to The Daily Northwestern’s live-blog of the Wildcats’ second-to-last game of the regular season, a Big Ten matchup at Illinois. NU (6-4) is playing Illinois (3-6) in Champaign, Ill. in an in-state rivalry match with the inaugural Land of Lincoln Trophy on the line. Illini fans are trickling into Memorial Stadium as the Illini look to add to their two-game winning streak. Illinois defeated Michigan and Minnesota in back-to-back weeks. We’ll be providing live updates and analysis throughout the game, so be sure to keep it here for our comprehensive coverage. It’s a beautiful 58 degrees outside, with a high of 70 degrees expected, making the game feel like an early-season test rather than a crucial game with bowl implications. We’ll have football in 30 minutes.

Juice Thompson made one of his two free throws to extend the NU lead to 17. The Cats are currently playing a 2-1-2 defense, something they didn’t do last year much, if at all. Another splitting of free throws by the Huskies makes the score 68-52. Juice Thompson took another trip to the line for NU, converting on both free throws. Yet another foul on the other side of the court, and the score is now 70-55. Thompson had trouble finding anyone and had to burn a timeout to avoid a turnover. John Shurna made two straight baskets to give the Cats a 74-55 lead. Luka Mirkovic went to the line after a loose ball foul and made one of his free throws. Shurna again went to the free throw line, making both. The Cats run out the clock and get the win, 77-55.

Keep it here for postgame coverage and analysis.

Mike Capocci knocked down both free throws to give the Cats a 61-44 lead. Luka Mirkovic fouled and then the Cats threw the ball away on the offensive end. Darion Anderson drew the foul on Juice Thompson, which ended up as a three-point play. John Shurna came back and took a shot from the free throw line, missed, and got his own rebound, drawing a foul in the process. He made one of two free throws. After an NIU airball, Jeremy Nash hit a wide-open 3-pointer to open up the Cats’ lead. The crowd was really ripping into the airballs, and again the Huskies came up empty on offense. Shurna got to the free throw line and made one of two. Jeremy Nash had a crowd-energizing block, skying in to stop an NIU player who tried spinning to the basket. Ivan Peljusic made one of two free throws, but then NIU’s Sean Kowal dunked.