Mikel LeShoure rushed for 330 yards on 30 carries and scored a pair of touchdowns as Illinois dominated on the ground en route to a 48-27 victory over Northwestern at Wrigley Field on Saturday.

The novelty of both teams aiming toward the same end zone due to the cramped dimensions of the old baseball field clearly had no affect on LeShoure, who gave the Fighting Illini (6-5, 4-4 Big Ten) the lead with a pair of first quarter scores and continued to gash for chunks of yardage for the rest of the game.

Quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase passed for 40 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 97 yards while Jason Ford added 86 rushing yards and three touchdowns for Illinois, which finished with 520 rushing yards and became bowl eligible with the victory.

Northwestern tied it in the second quarter at 24-24 but the Fighting Illini tacked on a field goal to take the lead in the half and extended it on Sheelhaase’s touchdown pass in the third before breaking it open with two more rushing scores in the fourth.

Mike Trumpy rushed for 126 yards and two touchdowns for the Wildcats (7-4, 3-4).