Nothing special: The Huskies need to clean up their special teams play to compete with upper echelon competition. Arkansas’s Korliss Marshall set the tone with a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to start the game. The Huskies later passed up a 42-yard field goal attempt on fourth-and-3, indicating coach Rod Carey’s lack of confidence in kicker Tyler Wedel.
Moment is too big: NIU players and coaches talked all week about not being intimidated by playing an SEC opponent in front of about 70,000 fans. But the Huskies performed as if they were jittery in the first half as they fell behind 28-7.
Just managing: This year’s NIU team does not appear to be built for big comeback performances. Sophomore quarterback Drew Hare is tasked with managing the game, not necessarily being the one who is the reason for a victory. . The Huskies later passed up a 42-yard field goal attempt on fourth-and-3. Tyler Wedel did average 46.4 yards on five punts and added two extra points.
Failure to execute:The Huskies needed to play mistake-free football to catch the Razorbacks napping and looking ahead to their big battle against Texas A&M. But NIU never got their attention because of too many dropped passes and poorly-executed plays on both sides of the ball.
Looking ahead: Northern Illinois begins a stretch of three home games Oct. 4 when Kent State visits.
— Fred Mitchell
