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-wanted win.

The Illini closed 2006 with a 27-16 disappointment against an equally weak Wildcat squad.

“You’ve got to give Pat his due, they did a great job,” Illinois coach Ron Zook said 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 Illinois’ defensive 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, but it wasn’t enough to help a weak Illini squad.

While Illinois came out strong to start the game, behind just 17-16 at half, a second half riddled with offensive turnovers and too 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 yards rushing yards, had an 86-yard touchdown run with six minutes left before halftime, making the score 14-7 Northwestern. Dough Pilcher than scored an end zone tackle to give Illinois a safety and quarterback Juice Williams ran 9 yards through the red zone to put Illinois ahead 16-14. Just before halftime, though, the Wildcats would answer with a 36-yard field goal and regain control of the game with a 17-16 lead.

“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.

In the end, the game came down to moving the chains. The Wildcats had 25 first downs, While Illinois managed just 7 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.”