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#1 UNI uses rushing attack to defeat #17 Western Illinois, 42-3

October 31, 2007 on 9:46 pm | In Athletics |

MACOMB, Ill. - No. 1 Northern Iowa used a rushing attack of 355 yards to defeat No. 17 Western Illinois, 42-3, running 30 more plays and holding the ball for 14:16 more than the Leathernecks.

Down 14-3 at the half, the Leathernecks (5-3, 2-1 Gateway) possessed the ball for only three plays and 1:38 of the third quarter, while the Panthers (7-0, 3-0 Gateway) rushed 24 times for 142 yards in the period. Their first play of the fourth quarter, a 12-yard touchdown pass from Eric Sanders to Whitney Lewis, capped a 16-play, 92-yard drive and gave them a 28-3 lead. They then scored on each of their next two possessions - a one-play drive and a three-play drive - to take their final lead with 9:42 remaining.

Sanders converted all eight pass attempts on the night for 93 yards and a touchdown, while Corey Lewis (166 yards) and Darian Williams (102 yards) accounted for 268 of UNIs 355 rushing yards. The Panthers reached the end zone on six of their eight drives, punting on their first possession and losing a fumble on their third.

The Leathernecks got on the board midway through the second quarter with a 22-yard field goal by Taylor Rowan, but the Panthers responded with a 15-yard, 80-play drive that took 7:10 and gave them an 11-point lead 1:37 before halftime. Western took a timeout on fourth-and-two at the 5-yard line before lining up for the field goal.

“At that point I felt pretty good about 7-3,” said head coach Don Patterson. “I really felt like we would get a short field on our next drive and be up 10-7. If I had any idea on how the first half was going to play out I would have gone for it on fourth-and-two.”

Herb Donaldson gained 79 of his 80 rushing yards in the first half and the Leathernecks were limited to 44 total yards in the second half.

“They found the perfect way to stop us. They kept our offense on the sideline,” said Donaldson. “We are used to controlling the ball.”

The Panthers ran 74 plays to the Leathernecks’ 44, totaling 448 yards to Western’s 163.

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