Most Northwestern football fans were long gone by the fourth quarter and with good reason. Entering the final 15 minutes, NU was obliterating Eastern Illinois 41-0. The Wildcats had out-rushed the Panthers 206-74, out-passed them 152-55 and out-gained them 358-129. There was even a 71 yard pick-six for good measure.
Much like last week, when NU dominated then #21 Stanford, this Northwestern football team did most of their damage on the ground, with sophomore star running back Justin Jackson again leading the way. Jackson had 78 yards rushing and a touchdown through three quarters. Back-up Warren Long had 72 yards and a touchdown though the first three quarters.
NU spread the ball around as garbage time ensued with Solomon Vault, Jelani Roberts and even everybody’s favorite sound bite Auston Anderson seeing some carries. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Clayton Thorson took another step forward as he had another very efficient day (11-16, 152 yards passing, 1 TD, O INT through three quarters).
Of course, the real Northwestern football star today was the defensive unit as a whole. They followed up a very dominant performance in week one versus Stanford by turning in another commanding effort today. EIU never got anything going at all; neither on the ground or through the air. Eastern began the season ranked #25 in the FCS poll, but fell out after getting destroyed 33-5 at Western Illinois in week one.
WIU also had a rough week two versus a Big Ten opponent from the state of the Illinois as the Illini annihilated the Leathernecks 44-0 today. Next week Northwestern football travels to Duke for their first road game of the season. It is the second of Northwestern’s two pre-conference games against similarly elite, privileged institutions (Stanford being the first).
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is part of the FOX Sports Engage Network. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. He also appears regularly on numerous talk radio stations all across the country. Catch him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 the Zone.
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