Tip of the Hat to Laughery, Illinois in rivalry win over Northwestern
Taking Interstate 57 most of the way, Gibson City is 123 miles south of Wrigley Field.
On Saturday, Aidan Laughery, one of the community’s native sons, seemingly could have run all that way. He was virtually untouched on three long runs that led Illinois past Northwestern 38-28 before 26,378 bundled-up fans in the Frigid Confines.
Entering the game with only two touchdowns in his third year of play, he scored on scampers of 30, 64 and 31 yards. Those bursts formed the bulk of his 172 yards on only 12 carries, data points reminiscent of those regularly posted by legendary Illinois running back Red Grange a century ago.
Galloping through gaping holes, Laughery’s first score came midway into the first quarter. His second touchdown came on the second play after halftime, a draw play where Laughery was in the clear by the 50-yard-line.
He credited his offensive line for creating space for him to break loose. “Those guys were covering them up all day long,” he said. “It was awesome…I’m just thankful for those guys.”
Laughery’s final score, with 12:15 left, put Illinois up 35-20.
A minute later, after a strip-sack by linebacker Malachi Hood gave Illinois the ball at the NU 10, Naperville North grad David Olano’s field goal caromed off the right upright and over the crossbar to make it 38-20.
That 10-point flurry came after Northwestern had tightened a 28-10 game through Luke Akers’ second field goal and an 11-yard Jack Lausch-to-A.J. Henning touchdown pass.
NU’s last real threat came a few minutes later, on a fourth-and-2 from the Illinois 13. But a Lausch pass to tight end Marshall Lang fell harmlessly in the end zone, a zip code away from the target.
The two appeared to have different ideas of what route Lang should take, reflecting the NU passing game’s occasional out-of-sync woes.
Illinois (9-3, 6-3 Big Ten) matched its most wins in a season since 2007 and regained possession of the Land of Lincoln Trophy. Last year, during a four-game winning streak under first-year head coach David Braun, NU edged Illinois 45-43 in Champaign.
This year has been a different story for the Wildcats. They finish 4-8, 2-7 in the Big Ten, after dropping their third straight and fifth of six games. The sole victory in that span was a 26-20 overtime win on Nov. 2 over conference doormat Purdue.
“The results are far from what we're looking for,” Braun said. “There's spurts of really good football being played, but there's very few things to point to here in the last five weeks of us playing four quarters here."
Perhaps the day’s most deceptive statistics: NU outgained Illinois 442-382 and had 28 first downs to the Illini’s 14. During key moments, however, the Cats came up empty or turned the ball over.
While Cats defensive back Devin Turner intercepted two Luke Altmyer passes in the first half — returning one 13 yards for a touchdown to give NU a 10-7 lead—Illinois tallied four turnovers, including three interceptions.
The final score for NU came with one minute to go, a 15-yard Lausch strike to tight end Thomas Gordon, followed by a 2-point conversion to Lang.
On the day, NU passed the ball 61 times, with Lausch’s 25 of 48 for 287 yards supplemented by Ryan Boe’s 4 of 13 for 42 yards. Boe is a freshman from Batavia.
NU was hampered by the loss of Bryce Kirtz, injured on the first drive after making his second catch. Picking up the load was Henning, whose 10 catches for 119 yards were both career highs.
"It was special, it would have been more special with a win,” Henning said. “But just to finish my career here with this group, I felt like we went out swinging, we gave it all we had on the field, I played every down like it was my last.”