Morning Box Score: College Football Edition

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Sep 28, 2008 4:55PM

he number 1, 3, 4, and 9 teams in the nation losing? What a crazy week in college football.

Northwestern Tops Iowa, Remains Undefeated
It's an auspicious start for the Northwestern Wildcats, who beat Iowa 22-17 to advance to 5-0 to start the season and will likely enter the Top 25 this week (hey, if Vanderbilt can do it...). C.J. Bacher had an outstanding day, going 28 for 45 for 284 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception. Rasheed Ward had 10 catches for 94 yards and a touchdown. The Wildcats have a good chance to go 6-0 next week as they face Indiana.

Illinois Falls To Penn State
Juice Williams and Illinois marched into Happy Valley but couldn't keep up with Penn State as the Nittany Lions outpaced Illinois 38-24. Juice Williams went 13 for 24 for 184 yards, two touchdowns and an interception and also rushed for 64 yards. But Penn State, finally getting a real test, was too much for the Illinois defense, as they piled up 422 total yards, including 241 yards on the ground.

Irish Thump Purdue
Overcoming last week's loss to Michigan State, Notre Dame advanced to 3-1 on the season with an impressive 38-21 win over Purdue. QB Clausen threw for 275 yards and three touchdowns and Armando Allen stormed for a touchdown and 134 yards on the ground. There wasn't much defense as the teams combined for 938 total yards, but it was good enough as the Irish begin to overcome low pre-season expectations. Perhaps most important for the Irish? No turnovers.

Northern Illinois Roll Over Eastern Michigan
It was a butt-whoopin' as the Huskies had no trouble with East. Michigan, rolling to a 37-0 win. As usual, it was mostly on the ground as NIU had eight players get carries and totaling 235 yards, led by Me'co Brown, who had 111 yards and a TD.