>>North Carolina Blasts Illinois
Nursing an eight-point lead with just over 12 minutes left Saturday, North Carolina quarterback Mitch Trubisky heaved the ball deep toward Ryan Switzer but instead connected with the back of an Illinois defensive back.
The ball bounced high and came down in the hands of Tar Heel tight end Jake Bargas for a first down that set up a touchdown that gave North Carolina a 38-23 lead.
Early on, Trubisky had to lead the Tar Heels (1-1) from behind.
Illinois (1-1) went up 7-0 on the opening drive on a 65-yard Ke'Shawn VAugh touchdown run while North Carolina's offense started slow.
Trubisky jump-started the attack, rushing for two short touchdowns by the end of the first quarter and giving UNC a 17-14 lead it never gave up.
The Tar Heels held Illinois quarterback Wes Lunt to 127 yards and two touchdowns on 17-35 passing.
Illinois also struggled with penalties. They were flagged 13 times for 99 yards.
>>Illinois State Upsets Northwestern
Sean Slattery connected on a 33-yard field goal as time expired to give Illinois State a 9-7 upset of Northwestern on Saturday.
Slattery had missed a field goal and an extra point earlier.
Jake Kolbe completed 30 of his 41 passes for 287 yards and two interceptions, Anthony Warrum had nine receptions for 116 yards and George Moreira had 57 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown for Illinois State (2-0).
Clayton Thorson was 17 of 41 for 191 yards for Northwestern, which fell to 0-2.
Justin Jackson had 39 yards on 11 carries for the Wildcats before leaving the game early in the fourth quarter with an apparent injury.
Thorson connected with Austin Carr on a 10-yard touchdown pass on a fourth-down play early in the fourth quarter that gave the Wildcats a 7-6 edge with 9:04 remaining. That appeared to be the winning score before Kolbe led the Redbirds on an 11-play, 77-yard drive in the final 3:11 for the winning score.
Slattery missed the extra point following Moreira's 6-yard touchdown run just before halftime and missed a 49-yard attempt in the first quarter.
>>Eastern Illinois Rallies Past Miami (OH)
Mitch Kimble threw two touchdown passes in the final four minutes to rally Eastern Illinois to a 21-17 victory over Miami (Ohio) on Saturday night in a game that began nearly three hours late because of lightning.
After Kimble threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Dennis Turner to get within 17-14, the Panthers (1-1) got the ball back on their 49-yard line with 2:45 left and drove to the 7. Devin Church dropped a pass but Kimble went back to the running back on the next play for the score.
It was the Panthers' sixth victory in 39 games against FBS schools.
Kimble threw 3 yards to Addison Bounds in the final minute of the first half to cut the Redhawks' lead to 10-7.
Billy Bahl passed long down the middle for 51-yard score to Rokeem Williams and also tossed a 14-yarder to James Gardner that put Miami (0-2) up 17-7 in the third quarter.
