The end comes for Illini seniors

Ryan McDonald tried to keep it together.

But the 300-pound senior center, who tied Tim Simpson's long-held Illinois record with his 48th career start Saturday, kept needing to use his massive fingers and thumb to scrub his reddened eyes.

Though McDonald had to play at substantially less than 100 percent since sustaining a serious stinger during last year's upset at No. 1 Ohio State, he didn't want his college career to end with Illinois' 27-10 loss at Northwestern.

"It was a pretty wild ride," McDonald said. "It's just been a true blessing to get to play as many games as I did. Hopefully, there's a couple more in my future, but you never know.

"I'm more proud of what our team has accomplished. I know this year was a little disappointing, but, you know-"

McDonald, who eventually finished that sentence after a few pauses, was one of nine Illini senior starters who played their last game.

Senior defensive end Derek Walker was one of six (along with McDonald, Brit Miller, Xavier Fulton, Will Davis and David Lindquist) who started for last year's Rose Bowl team, too.

"I never, ever thought this season would go the way it did," Walker said. "I really believed we would at least be as good as we were last year, if not better."

Locksley speaks: Illinois offensive coordinator Mike Locksley confirmed his recent interview for the open job at Clemson.

But in the same breath, he rolled out a lengthy agenda that included little but figuring out how to fix Illinois' offensive fortunes.

During the last seven games of the season, the Illini scored more than 20 points just twice as they went 2-5 down the stretch.

"I've got a job to do here at Illinois," Locksley said. "That's my goal. We've got to get out, get on the road recruiting. We've got to find a way to get some of these things corrected-

"The 2009 season starts tomorrow."

Senior Day delight: Northwestern celebrated the final home game for 23 seniors by claiming the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk trophy permanently.

(The trophy will be replaced by a more genteel concept in time for next year's Nov. 14 meeting in Champaign).

That senior group included five players who started on offense Saturday, three defensive starters, kicker Amado Villarreal and long snapper Phil Brunner.

The seniors accounted for 19 of NU's 27 points on Saturday. Quarterback C.J. Bacher tossed touchdown passes to seniors Eric Peterman (season-high 8 catches for 111 yards) and Ross Lane (6 for 57), while Villarreal converted 2 field goals and 1 extra point.

And, led by Kevin Mims' career-high 21/2 sacks, seniors accounted for 31/2 of NU's 5 sacks and forced both fumbles.

"I couldn't be more proud of those young men," coach Pat Fitzgerald said. "It'll be a sad day for me to see them leave our locker room.

"But the good news is we have at least a little over a month to stay together and prepare for one more opportunity."

After meeting Sunday and Monday, the Wildcats plan to take the rest of Thanksgiving week off before resuming workouts Dec. 1.

Illinois maladies: The Illini played without junior safety Donsay Hardeman (neck injury) and sophomore linebacker Martez Wilson (violation of team rules).

In addition, sophomore Garrett Edwards started at free safety ahead of yearlong starter Travon Bellamy.

Hardeman's lingering injury could require a trip to see a specialist in Chicago but isn't expected to affect him for the 2009 season.

Backup quarterback Eddie McGee, meanwhile, did not play due to a broken hand - apparently his non-throwing hand because coach Ron Zook said he could have played if Juice Williams had been injured.

He said it: Illinois senior linebacker Brit Miller, as he did so many times over four years, capped his career by providing a fitting State of the Illini quote:

"It's a process. We weren't at the peak of the mountain last year. We had a great group of guys who played together. We had a couple guys who could really play. The team chemistry was great.

"This year, there was a lot of things that held us back. The last two games got away from us. There was never a time that we ever took the field and thought, "We ain't winning today.'

"That was the pre-Rose Bowl Illini that was incapable of winning games."