Kain Colter, Venric Mark, expected to play vs. Illini

Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said running back Venric Mark and quarterback Kain Colter are expected to play in Saturday’s regular-season finale against Illinois at Ryan Field. Mark was injured during overtime of a Nov. 10 loss at Michigan. He tried to play Saturday but was told by Fitzgerald that he would be held out of the second half. “He wasn’t very happy but his response in the second half was unbelievable,” Fitzgerald said. “He was ridiculous. I had to push him back on the sideline. We gave him our 12th man award for his juice and passion on the sideline. I would much rather see him scoring touchdowns, don’t get me wrong, but the way he responded, I thought, was pretty spectacular.”Colter suffered what a spokesperson called an “upper extremity injury” late in the third quarter.“We’ll see how it goes practice-wise but we expect them both to play this week,” Fitzgerald said.Cornerback Nick Van Hoose has missed three straight games with an “upper body” injury and will likely miss a fourth, according to Fitzgerald.