The Northern Illinois Huskies earned the school’s most significant football victory in a generation on Saturday. A swarming, resourceful, help-out defense led the way.
To the delight of red-clad fans in a Huskie Stadium crowd of 25,822, the Huskies (7-3, 6-0) beat previously undefeated and 20th-ranked Bowling Green 26-17 and claimed sole leadership of the Mid-American Conference’s West Division.
It was a stirring defensive battle, despite eye-catching individual statistics by Huskies tailback Michael Turner, Falcons quarterback Josh Harris and his top receiver, Robert Redd.
Turner carried 40 times for 192 yards. Harris completed 27-of-52 passes for 271 yards, throwing 22 times in the final quarter as Bowling Green (8-1, 5-1) fought to overcome NIU’s lead and remain unbeaten. Redd caught 14 passes for 119 yards.
The ringleaders in Northern’s sixth straight victory were linebacker Nick Duffy, cornerback Randee Drew and other members of a defense that held the nation’s highest-scoring team 30 points below its 47-point average.
“I wasn’t sure what their average was,” said Milwaukee native Drew, who intercepted a pass, made a key block on Dan Sheldon’s 80-yard punt return and dashed 46 yards on a kickoff return. “I thought it was something like 42 points a game.”
Duffy, a junior linebacker from Wheaton Warrenville South who made a game-high 10 tackles, also was unaware of the Falcons’ gaudy scoring average. “I’m mad about the 17 points they did score,” he said.
That’s the attitude the NIU defenders carried onto the field against an opponent with an 11-game winning streak, an All-America candidate in quarterback Harris and a running back, Joe Alls, whose 7.6 yards-per-carry average leads the nation.
Alls averaged just 3.1 yards per rush as Bowling Green’s total offense of 357 yards fell 134 below its average.
“Northern Illinois played really good defense,” Redd said. “Without question, they are the best defense we played all season. They’re really disciplined and real quick.”
Bowling Green was in position for a comeback victory until sophomore linebacker Kursten Strothman tackled Harris a yard shy of a first down on a fourth-down play at midfield with NIU ahead 23-17 and four minutes to play. Steve Azar later kicked his fourth field goal.
NIU coach Joe Novak credited the week off with helping his defense prepare for Bowling Green’s no-huddle, hurry-up spread offense. When the Huskies thwarted BG’s running early, the Falcons relied primarily on the pass.
Defensive linemen Jason Frank, Leonard Cooksley, Eric Didesch and Travis Moore and middle linebacker Duffy played key roles in stuffing the Falcons’ running game.
“Bowling Green was dangerous, though, because of Harris’ running,” Novak said. “He weighs 225 pounds and breaks tackles, but our defense was able to hold him in check.”
Bowling Green also played tough defense, especially when it was backed up close to its goal line. The Falcons stalled Huskies drives at the 10-, 2-, 9- and 4-yard lines, forcing NIU to settle for chip-shot field goals of 27, 19, 26 and 21 yards by Azar.
“I wasn’t happy about that–I wanted touchdowns,” Novak said. “But Bowling Green played good defense too.”
Said BG coach Urban Meyer:
“I was proud of our goal-line defense. We held Northern near our goal line, and we held a very good back (Turner) in check. But we were not ready to play in the first half, and Northern’s kick returns killed us.”
Sheldon’s 80-yard punt return set up Josh Haldi’s second TD pass that earned NIU a 17-3 halftime lead. BG cut a 23-10 fourth-quarter deficit to 23-17 before Drew’s 46-yard kickoff return earned NIU the field position that ultimately resulted in Azar’s clinching field goal and the nine-point margin.
