EVANSTON, Ill. – A typically impressive defensive effort by J Leman and promising offensive production from Pierre Thomas were not enough to end Illinois’ season with a much-desired win.

The Illini closed the 2006 season with a disappointing 27-16 loss against an equally weak Wildcat squad on Saturday, Nov. 18.

“You’ve got to give Pat his due, they did a great job,” said Illinois head coach Ron Zook of Northwestern’s first-year coach Pat Fitzgerald. “I told our football team all week that this was going to be the toughest game of the year.”

Leman was the Illinois defense’s most potent weapon, with 22 tackles to earn his second Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week award this season. Leman also had an 8-yard sack and 2.5 tackles-for-loss.

While Illinois came out strong to start the game, down only one point at the half, a second half riddled with offensive turnovers and many defensive mistakes led to the kind of finish many Illini fans have come to expect this season.

“You always want to leave the season on a good note, and it hurts to know we couldn’t win a rivalry game against a good team,” Williams said.

Northwestern had two first-half touchdowns before Illinois ever put points on the board, but Illinois’ running game gave the team a much-needed momentum boost in the second quarter.

Sophomore running back Rashard Mendenhall, who led the offense with 115 rushing yards, had an 86-yard touchdown run with six minutes left in the second quarter, putting the Wildcats ahead 14-7.

Dough Pilcher then made an end zone tackle to give Illinois a safety and quarterback Juice Williams ran nine yards through the red zone to put Illinois ahead 16-14. Just before halftime, though, the Wildcats answered with a 36-yard field goal and regained control of the game.

“I think this year was harder for the players and our fans,” Mendenhall said. “When we’re in every game, have a chance to win every game, it’s frustrating not to come away with it.”

The Wildcats added another touchdown and a field goal in the second half, but Illinois failed to score on a trick play with E.B. Halsey throwing to Jacob Willis for the touchdown attempt and again as freshman Chris James dropped a fourth-down pass in the end zone.

The Wildcats had 25 total first downs, while Illinois managed just seven in the entire 60-minute contest. Illinois was also crushed by seven penalties costing 56 yards.

“We’d have opportunities to do things and we’d shoot ourselves in the foot,” Zook said. “It was kind of a recap of the whole year.”

Maddox misses out

Senior offensive lineman Matt Maddox started every game of his college career – except the last.

Maddox, who started every game of 2003, 2004 and 2006 at right guard and started at center in 2005, missed his last game after being sent home from Evanston with a staph infection.

Maddox initially made the trip, but returned to Champaign to be treated at an area hospital.

Leman earns triple honors

Illinois linebacker J Leman earned three big honors during the Thanksgiving break, picking up his second Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week award and earning nods as an All-Big Ten player and a Big Ten Sportsmanship Award Honoree.

The Big Ten announced Monday that Leman had been chosen as the Defensive Player of the Week after a 22-tackle performance against Northwestern.

On Tuesday, Illinois’ starting middle linebacker picked up a spot on the coaches second-team All-Conference list and a first-team nod from media covering the Big Ten.

“I figured most awards would come out of the No. 1 and 2 teams in the nation playing each other,” said Leman Monday after winning the Player of the Week award. “But I guess they didn’t play as much defense as people expected.”

Leman is the Big Ten’s leading tackler, averaging 12.7 tackles per game and 13.4 in Big Ten play alone.

Leman’s numbers are the second-best in the nation. His 22 defensive stops against the Wildcats tied the best in the NCAA this season.

Leman broke into Illinois’ top-10 season tackles list on Saturday, adding to the 130 he had already accumulated.

His 152 tackles this season are the sixth-highest single-season total in Illinois history. He knocked Dick Butkus off the top-10 list.

The Champaign native just finished his junior season of eligibility. He finished his degree in Speech Communications last August, and is now working on a masters. He earned his first Defensive Player of the Week award on Nov. 6.

“J’s a special guy, if you know J the person, it’s easy to understand why he’s the kind of football player he is,” Illinois coach Ron Zook said. “He’s intelligent, he studies the game, does everything he can.”

Illini collect postseason honors

Four other Illini were recognized as All-Conference honorable mentions.

Freshman cornerback Vontae Davis and junior kicker Jason Reda made both the coaches and the media honorable mention lists.

The conference coaches also recognized senior running back Pierre Thomas, while the media voted senior cornerback Alan Ball to the honorable mention list.