The Illinois football team won’t have to plan around anything in particular over the holiday season.

The Illini (3-7, 2-6 Big Ten) were eliminated from bowl contention Saturday with a 21-16 loss to visiting Northwestern (7-4, 4-3). The loss ensures that the Illini will end the season with a losing record for the seventh time in eight seasons.

“I told our team, ‘Basically, we didn’t play well enough to win,’” Illinois head coach Ron Zook said. “‘Don’t go around blaming people. There’s no use in blaming people. That’s what we’ve been doing all year. If you want somebody to blame, blame me.’”

The Illini defense surrendered 305 passing yards to Northwestern quarterback Mike Kafka, who completed 23 of 37 passes. The senior registered both a rushing and passing touchdown.

Illinois quarterback Jacob Charest, on the other hand, struggled early in his first career start, completing 5 of 14 passes for 34 yards in the first half. The redshirt freshman was benched at the start of the second half for junior quarterback Eddie McGee but returned to lead the Illini on two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter.

Charest finished 14 of 27 for 145 yards passing but had two critical interceptions on the day.

“We had our chances to win, and we didn’t do it,” Zook said. “They did it, and that’s why they won.”

The Illini fell behind 21-3 after the offense stalled with McGee in at quarterback, gaining zero passing yards in the third quarter.

But the Illini stormed back with two touchdowns in the final 11 minutes of the game. Charest scored the Illini’s first touchdown of the day on a 10-yard keeper and later found senior wide receiver Chris Duvalt for a 32-yard touchdown.

“It was a heck of a football game,” Zook said. “I’m proud of the way our guys came back there and made it a ball game, but we shouldn’t have let ourselves get in that situation.”

A potential game-winning drive for the Illini in the final minutes of the game came to an end when Northwestern cornerback Sherrick McManis intercepted a pass on a controversial call.

Facing a fourth-and-1 with just more than a minute remaining in the game, Illinois junior wide receiver Jarred Fayson appeared to make a 5-yard reception on Illinois’ 35-yard line to keep the drive alive. But officials ruled that McManis ripped the ball from Fayson’s hands for an interception before Fayson was ruled down, and the play was upheld by an official’s review.

The call led to a chorus of boos from the Memorial Stadium crowd as Northwestern proceeded to run the clock out for their sixth win against the Illini in the last seven years.

“I personally don’t think it should have been an interception,” Charest said. “Jarred caught it and somehow the other guy came up with it. But I thought he caught it 100 percent. I wasn’t even thinking interception. We were just getting ready for the next play.”

Zook declined to criticize the officials but hinted at his displeasure with the call.

“Everybody has bad games,” Zook said. “Players have bad games, coaches have bad games, and obviously officials have bad games.”

Charest said his frustration with the game was more pointed at missed opportunities, specifically overthrowing an open Duvalt downfield on the first play of the final Illini drive.

“Oh man, just a little bit overthrown,” Charest said. “I was just trying to keep it away from that safety. Just a little too far.”

The five-point loss is the Illini’s only defeat this season that hasn’t come by double digits.

“These are the hardest games to lose, when you have a chance and it comes down to a few plays,” sophomore running back Mikel LeShoure said. “But we just have to take the loss and move on.”

The Illini will move on by traveling to currently unbeaten No. 5 Cincinnati in two weeks and then finishing the season by hosting Fresno State on Dec. 5.

“Keep trying to win, that’s the only thing I know,” Zook said of what is left of the season. “It’s why they keep score. I’m pretty sure they aren’t going to cancel the next few games.”