DEKALB- The ambitious non-conference schedule that the Northern Illinois Huskies (0-2,0-0 Mid-American) have undertaken this year seems to be taking it’s toll already. Saturday night the Huskies welcomed the Utah Utes (2-0, 0-0 Pac-12) to Huskie Stadium for the first ever meeting between the two schools, and for game two of it’s four-game set against Power Five institutions. The end result however was a 17-6 loss in which NIU continued to stagnate on offense. They are now 0-2 all-time against the Pac-10/12.
Against the Iowa Hawkeyes last week, the Huskies didn’t score until the fourth quarter and grinded to reach 211 total yards of offense in a 33-7 road loss. This week against Utah, the Huskies did slightly better with 228 yards but only had two field goals to show for it. Northern Illinois can move the ball with their running game (218 yards on the season) as has been the programs biggest strength. But they have yet to score a rushing touchdown. The passing game has been problematic as well.
Sophomore quarterback Marcus Childers completed just 18-of-33 passes for 111 yards and an interception which was returned for a 40-yard touchdown by Utah linebacker Chase Hansen late in the fourth quarter which essentially put the game on ice. He’s thrown two picks so far this season, only one touchdown pass, just two 216 yards through the air in two games, and he finished Saturday’s game with a rating of 76.7.
“He’s frustrated,” said head coach Rod Carey about Childers’ mentality afterwards in his post-game press conference. “And I think sometimes the quarterback gets too much blame and too much credit. I certainly think that everyone is going to point to that last pick at the end but there were tons of other situations where maybe we aren’t in that situation if we can execute a play earlier in the game,” he added.
On the ground NIU was led by sophomore running back Tre Harbison who had 63 yards on 13 carries, and averaged nearly five yards per rushing attempt. Junior Marcus Jones was right behind him with 36 yards on seven rushes. The Huskies offensive line did their best to keep the team in the game as they only gave up three sacks and at times overpowered Utah’s bigger defensive line, especially in the first half where the the Huskies led 3-0 at halftime.
“We expected a dog fight,” said Utah senior linebacker Chase Hansen who finished the game with 12 tackles and had two of the Utes three sacks in addition to the fourth quarter interception. Utes junior running back Zack Moss scored the first touchdown of the game with a one-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and finished with 66 yards on 16 carries.
“We’re very frustrated, upset, and disappointed with the outcome of the game,” said Carey. He continued, “I thought we had our opportunities early in the game and late in the game. But we didn’t execute down the stretch which ended up costing us.”
Some of that failed execution resulted in a botched field goal from a bad snap, two failed fourth down conversions, just 7-for-20 on third down, and punting the ball on eight possessions, including six straight in the second and third quarters. This happened despite NIU winning the time of possession battle (31:32 to 28:28).
“Utah is aggressive, their tough, their long, their athletic, but that doesn’t change the expectations we have for ourselves,” said Carey.
NIU defensive end Sutton Smith was the biggest bright spot for the Huskies on Saturday. He led the team with two sacks, three tackles for loss, and was third on the team with five total tackles. But he’ll take a win over anything else.
“I think whoever is in front of us, we’re gonna prepare our hearts out, we’re gonna go and we’re gonna play fast,” Smith said.
Next week the Huskies play their first conference game when they welcome Central Michigan to DeKalb. But that’ll be followed by another difficult non-conference game when they travel to Florida State the following week. Perhaps changes are in order for the Huskies but that remains to be seen.
“We’re going to have to refocus and focus on our next opponent upcoming,” says Carey.
The Huskies have been down this road before, and they’ve shown the ability to come back. But they have to score points in order to give themselves a chance.
