Illinois saved the best for last.

In front of a home crowd at Memorial Stadium, the Fighting Illini put together their most complete performance of the season in a 47-14 victory over rival Northwestern. The victory ended a 6-game losing streak to the Wildcats and bumped Bret Bielema’s team to a 5-7 finish in his first season.

The offense was balanced. The defense completely shut down Northwestern. Even special teams play was stellar in the rout.

Bielema’s team came out of the locker room hot, scoring two touchdowns in the first 9 minutes of the game to build a 14-0 advantage. Daniel Barker got into the end zone on an 8-yard run to start the scoring and Brandon Peters connected on a 39-yard pass to Isaiah Williams for the second score of the contest.

Illinois then scored two more touchdowns to build a 28-0 advantage before Northwestern got its first score of the game. That came on a 1-yard run from Ryan Hilinski to make the score 28-7.

It was the only time the Wildcats would reach the end zone until the final minute of the game in Champaign.

By halftime, Illinois had essentially secured the victory with a 37-7 lead. For good measure, the Illini tacked on 10 more points for a little added insurance to bring the Land of Lincoln Trophy back to Champaign.

Peters ended the afternoon completing 14-of-24 passes for 242 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Chase Brown tacked on 112 yards on the ground to lead the Illini. Brown, Williams, Barker and Josh McCray all scored rushing touchdowns in the win.

Williams was the leading receiver with 113 yards on 7 receptions.

James McCourt made all 4 field goal attempts, including a long of 49 yards. He was also 5-of-5 on PAT tries. Punter Blake Hayes only hit the field 3 times, but pinned Northwestern inside their 20-yard line on every boot.

Northwestern ended the game with just 241 yards of offense and had 2 turnovers. Evan Hull was the lone bright spot, rushing for 101 yards and a touchdown.

Illinois closes out the season with wins over two ranked opponents (Penn State and Minnesota) and a victory in the rivalry game against Northwestern. Not a bad first season in Champaign for Bielema and his staff.