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Morning Box Score

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Nov 8, 2009 4:30PM

College Football

  • Northwestern rolled into Iowa City and pulled off a big upset win, knocking off #4 Iowa by a 17-10 final. Down 10-0 early, the Wildcats scored a pair of second quarter touchdowns - including a big defensive play on a fumble recovery in the endzone - to take a 14-10 lead and added a fourth quarter field goal to extend the lead. The Hawkeyes seemed doomed when QB Ricky Stanzi went down with an ankle injury on the fumble play in the second quarter. As for the Wildcats, Mike Kafka and Dan Persa split time under center, combining for only 109 yards. In fact, Northwestern only managed 239 total yards, but all that mattered was the final score. Oh, and with the win, the Wildcats are now bowl eligible at 6-4.
  • For the second straight time, the Navy Midshipmen upset Notre Dame in South Bend, 23-21. The Irish were down 21-7 heading into the fourth quarter but rallied behind Jimmy Clausen, who threw for 452 yards. Down 21-14 in the final minute, Clausen was sacked in the endzone for a safety, giving Navy a 9-point lead. Still, Clausen led Notre Dame back down the field and threw a 31-yard TD pass to Golden Tate to cut the Navy lead to two with 24 seconds left. But the Irish comeback fell short when Navy recovered the ensuing onside kick.
  • Illinois lost quarterback Juice Williams early to an injury but the Illini defense came up big in the team's 35-32 win over Minnesota. The defense had an interception returned for a touchdown and got seven sacks as the Illini held off Minnesota who put together a 22-point fourth quarter. Jacob Charest threw for 185 yards in relief of Williams.
  • Northern Illinois picked on the hapless (and winless) Eastern Michigan Eagles, rolling to a 50-6 victory. The Huskies got 418 yards on the ground, including 174 yards and two touchdowns from Chad Spann and QB DeMarcus Grady threw for 119 yards and ran for 104 yards, scoring a total of three touchdowns.

Fire Burn Rev, Advance in MLS Playoffs
The Chicago Fire needed to beat the New England Revolution by two goals to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. They got that victory, burning the Revolution 2-0 last night at Toyota Park, securing their ticket to the next round. Down by a goal in the series aggregate, John Thorrington got the scoring going last night with a goal in the 35th minute, giving the Fire a 1-0 game lead and tying the aggregate at 2-2. As the game moved late and the sellout crowd was getting antsy, Patrick Nyarko brought the ball along the endline with some solid footwork, passing off to Blanco in the box; Blanco showed some handling skills of his own before popping a shot into the upper-right corner of the goal to give the Fire the necessary 2-0 advantage. The Fire was overall more aggressive, getting off 12 shots to New England's 4; goalie Jon Busch got all four saves.

Next up for the Fire is Real Salt Lake, who comes to Toyota Park next Saturday night for the Eastern Conference Final. Tickets are available here.

Bulls Bounce Bobcats
The Bulls kept rolling for their third win in the row by bouncing the Charlotte Bobcats 93-90 last night. Once again using a second half surge to overcome a halftime deficit, the Bulls got 26 points from John Salmons and Joakim Noah scored 21 while pulling down 16 rebounds. The Bulls found themselves down by 7 points at the half but outscored the Bobcats 27-17 in the third to get back out in front. Trailing by 9 with 3:43 to go in the third, the Bulls took off on a 16-0 run that extended into the opening minutes of the fourth period and never looked back. Next up are the Nuggets who come to the United Center Tuesday night (7 p.m., CSN).