Further Review: It's going to be cold Dec. 5

Check out our postgame video here

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

– The Illini's Dec. 5 home finale just became an even tougher sell. Tickets sales weren't exactly brisk to begin with for the nonconference visit by Fresno State, and now Illini fans are presented with a low-stakes game – no bowl bid on the line – that will cap a highly disappointing season. We're guessing that no matter what the announced attendance is that day, it won't reflect actual bodies in the seats.

– Maybe Ron Zook should follow the example of Lovie Smith. When Smith took the Bears' job, he declared that the team's top priority on its schedule would always be the Green Bay Packers. Zook and Co. might want to put a similar bull's-eye on their in-state Big Ten rivals. If you're counting, that's six Northwestern victories in the last seven games in this series. That can't be helping the Illini staff's cause when they're going head to head for recruits, particularly in-state players.

– It will be interesting to see whether the upcoming bye weekend is good or bad for Illinois. Certainly, it gives some banged-up players more time to heal up for the next game. But they'll also have more time than usual to chew on Saturday's cluncker. Maybe it's better to get right back at it. And if you're a senior, how enthused are you to end your career with two nonconference games and no bowl in sight? Those guys, in particular, will be put to the test on how they represent themselves.

SECOND GUESSING

– Trailing 21-9 in the fourth quarter, Illinois needed points in a hurry for any chance to get back into the game. It was understandable, then, that the crowd expressed its unhappiness whenever a running play was called. It didn't help the crowd's mood that little came of those ground attempts.

– If you think folks around here are questioning the scheduling of that Fresno State game, consider the plight of Bulldogs' fans. Starting time on West Coast is 9:30 a.m.

– What has happened to Matt Eller? A year ago, the Illini place-kicker was a deadly 15-of-20 on field goal attempts as a redshirt freshman. With 1.25 field goals per game, Eller ranked 35th nationally, and his 84 points and 15 field goals broke UI freshman records. This season, to use a phrase from "Friday Night Lights," Eller has lost his mojo. When the Jacksonville, Fla., native missed a chip-shot 23-yarder on Illinois' second possession of the game, it was his seventh failure in 11 tries. At that point, Zook had seen enough. Replacement Derek Dimke hit his lone FG attempt, from 30 yards, and successfully handled the UI's lone PAT kick of the game. You have to wonder if we've seen the last of Eller _ for this season, at least.

THIRD DEGREE

– When the postmortem on the Illini season is conducted, one area to deserves special dissection is the passing game. Remember the high expectations entering the year, with strong-armed Juice Williams throwing to a receiving corps generally regarded as among the best in the nation? Instead, Juice too often played like he was in a fog, and those receivers rarely had the impact that the 2008 crew made. It was more of the same Saturday, with an injured Williams on the sideline, rookie Jacob Charest generally struggling in his first start, and vet Eddie McGee making little impact in a short stint. With 162 yards passing, the Illini finished under 165 through the air for the sixth time in 10 games this season.

– Remember all the griping in recent years about Illinois punting? Time to give Anthony Santella his props. The junior continued a strong season with an average of 41 yards on six kicks, including one that was downed on the Wilcat 1 and another on the NU 16.

– Another busy day of tackling for the Illini secondary – never a good sign for a defense. Junior strong safety Garrett Edwards finished with a career-high 12 tackles, including seven solo stops. Sophomore cornerback Tavon Wilson had 11 tackles, with 10 solo stops. Against an NU team that rushed the ball 42 times, the UI secondary was making stops on more than just passes.

FOURTH ESTATE

As the play-by-play voice of Northwestern football and men's basketball, Dave Eanet no doubt talks to Wildcats athletic director Jim Phillips more than any member of the media. That gives Eanet a particular insight into what Phillips, an Illinois graduate, regards as the AD's top priorities and biggest challenges.

One of those challenges, says Eanet, is using his salesman skills to position NU football into the best bowl possible.

"Jim's a guy that's dynamic enough to keep the Northwestern brand out there," said Eanet, a 1977 NU graduate and in his 20th year of calling Wildcats games. "And I think that's one of his goals – When the bowl selection process comes around, not to have Northwestern leapfrogged by other programs which may have more tradition in one area or another, or bigger attendance or whatever."

Another of Phillips' priorities is to raise Wildcats basketball to the same level of competitive success that football generally has enjoyed since the breakthrough 1995 Rose Bowl season. Since '95, the Wildcats have won three league Big Ten titles, traveled to six bowls and are bowl ligible again. In contrast, NU basketball never has reached the NCAA tournament.

"That's been a big priority," Eanet said. "Football's had a lot of success. ... That was something people said never could happen at Northwestern. So now, can you get the other sports on that kind of a level, too?"

Also high on Phillips' to-do list is getting more fans in the seats at NU home football games. This season, a 6-4 Wildcats team ranks last in the Big Ten in average attendance at 22,864.

One issue facing Phillips, Eanet says, is the poor attendance for nonconference home games. One contributing factor: because NU operates on a quarterly academic calendar, the school's students typically have yet to arrive on campus before the third home game. That pulls down the overall average, although NU still has work to do on attracting more fans to home conference games, too.

"Generally, the attendance for the Big Ten games is maybe not where it should be and ultimately will be," Eanet said. "But I think it's a little more respectable than some of the really small crowds they get in early September or the last day of August."

Eanet said he is confident Phillips eventually will make progress in all those areas, based on what he accomplished in his previous job as Northern Illinois' AD.

"He got them into bowl games, hired the right coaches for that institution, did a lot from a facilities standpoint, Eanet said.

IN THE STADIUM

– The new Land of Lincoln Trophy, which annually will be awarded to the winner of the Illini-Wildcats game, was on display in the Memorial Stadium press box before the game. A plaque attached to the front base notes that it was first awarded in 2009. Atop the base is an Abraham Lincoln-style stove-pipe hat.

– Before meeting with the media after the game, Fitzgerald had his seniors return to the field to take a group picture with the trophy, which will stay in Northwestern's possession until at least next year's Illini-Wildcats game.

IN THE (NORTHWESTERN) LOCKER ROOM

– The son of one of the NFL's all-time best special teams players took after dad on Saturday. Hunter Bates, a redshirt freshman safety, recovered an Illini onside kick in the fourth quarter as the UI was trying to rally from a 21-9 deficit Bates is the son of Bill Bates, who had a 15-year NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys.

"He saw it coming and made a great play," Fitzgerald said. "He comes from a really special family. His dad, obviously, was one of the best special teams players in the history of this game. It was Hunter being decisive. And that's what you have to be in that situation."

– Northwestern began to take command of the game with the longest drive a team can make. In fact, it was more than a 99-yard march after the first play began with a false-start penalty.

"It should really go in the books at 99.75," Fitzgerald said.

The Wildcats overcame that balky start to reach the end zone in seven plays, a drive capped by quarterback Mike Kafka's sneak from the Illini 1.

"That's just a great job by our staff and a tremendous job by our young men, just going out and executing and making plays," Fitzgerald said. "We've done that a couple times this year ... put together some long drives by executing.

"No disrepect to Illinois, but we really thought like we were (previously) shooting ourself in the foot."

– Three years ago, Zeke Markshausen had to all but beg his way onto the Northwestern football team as a walkon. Now, the senior wide receiver is the favorite target of Wildcat QBs. Markhausen entered the game ranked second in the Big Ten and 14th nationally in receptions per game. He didn't hurt those rankings, catching six passes for 104 yards, including a 28-yard TD catch that gave NU the lead for good at 7-3.

"It's been a blast," said Markhausen, who went from one reception last season to 76 through Saturday's action. "I came in knowing that hard work would pay off in this program ... so I just worked my butt off for three or four years and they gave me a chance."

Getting on the team was hard work, too, for the North Boone High graduate.

"It wasn't an easy process," he said. "It wasn't just, 'Hey, can I come on the team,' and 'Yeah, come on.' ... It took a little while. It wasn't instant, but they gave me a chance at it."

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