New QB Preston Stone, Northwestern roll to 42-7 rout over Western Illinois
New quarterback Preston Stone passed for 245 yards and his first three touchdowns with Northwestern, leading the Wildcats to a 42-7 rout of Western Illinois on Friday night.
Hayden Eligon II, Hunter Welcing and Drew Wagner pulled in Stone's scoring passes.
Cam Porter rushed for a touchdown and 91 yards as Northwestern (1-1) dominated its home opener at Martin Stadium, its temporary lakeside field. Backup QB Ryan Boe (Batavia) fought off a defender and raced 58 yards for a score midway through the fourth quarter and Luke Akers added a pair of field goals.
Porter didn't return after limping to the sidelines with a lower-body injury six minutes into the third quarter. Two trainers helped him off the field after he emerged from a pileup. The six-year grad student led Northwestern in rushing in 2020, 2023 and 2024.
Stone, a graduate transfer from SMU, connected on 21 of 29 passes. He recovered nicely after throwing a career-high four interceptions in his Wildcats debut — a 23-3 loss at Tulane last week.
Griffin Wilde caught five passes for 94 yards to help boost Northwestern's total yards to 526,
Western Illinois scored on backup quarterback Cason Carswell's 8-yard pass to Christian Anaya with 2:49 remaining,
Western Illinois (0-2) was limited to 181 yards. Leathernecks starting quarterback Chris Irvin was held to 27 yards on 5-for-18 passing before Carswell entered and went 6 for 8 for 52 yards
Northwestern scored its first two touchdowns of the season on its first two possessions, then expanded its lead to 22-0 at the half.
Porter spun away from traffic at midfield and raced 43 yards for a score 3:02 into the game to complete a six-play drive.
Stone's floating 46-yard pass up the middle to Wilde got the next drive started. Five plays later, Stone fired a 5-yard TD bullet to Eligon. Lawson Albright ran in a 2-point conversion to make it 15-0.
Welcing's 6-yard TD catch with 28 seconds left put the Wildcats up 22-0 at the half.
Wagner had a 4-yard TD catch in the fourth.
The takeaway
Western Illinois: The Ohio Valley Conference-Big South school opened its season the hard way: against two Big Ten opponents. The Leathernecks were pounded 52-3 at Illinois last week when they managed just 163 yards.
Northwestern: Preston and Porter, Northwestern's offensive leaders, were able to enjoy a tune-up for Big Ten play starting next week. The question: Porter's health.
Up next
Western Illinois hosts Valparaiso Sept. 13.
Northwestern plays its first Big Ten game Sept. 13, hosting No. 6 Oregon.