After Saturday’s loss to Northwestern, Illinois and coach Lou Tepper are licking their wounds again. There was little solace Sunday in playing NU closer than its No. 11 ranking would suggest.
“It was more than what people expected from us, but our players felt they had prepared to be the better team,” Tepper said Sunday.
Next for Illinois (2-5 overall, 1-3 Big Ten) is Iowa (5-2, 3-1), which lost 38-26 to Ohio State Saturday.
Moving up: Junior running back Robert Holcombe continues to be the Illini offense’s most consistent light. He moved into fourth place on Illinois’ career rushing list with 166 yards Saturday. He now has 2,330 career rushing yards and Saturday’s production, which included three touchdowns, was his third 100-yard game of the season.
“Holcombe ran like a stud,” said Northwestern coach Gary Barnett. “That was him breaking tackles, not us (missing tackles).”
“Robert is a complete back,” Tepper said. “He blocks. He runs with power. He runs with speed and he’s a tremendous kid.”
