NIU Huskies capture the Bronze Stalk Trophy from Ball State in ugly 26-20 victory
by Mike Breese on Nov 12, 2009 9:49 PM CST
in Football
7 comments
This victory improves Northern Illinois' record to 7-3, which all but guarantees us a bowl spot. It certainly wasn't the prettiest win over the now 1-9 Cardinals, but a W is a W. Right? The MAC Championship is still in sight.
The defense took all of the first half to wake up for this game. The first drive Ball State was able to punch the ball in early strictly by rushing the ball.
Chad Spann surprisingly started the game at running back, and the Huskies marched down the field with a good amount of both rushing and passing by DeMarcus Grady. The result was a wide-open 9 yd TD pass to Preston Williams, who caught the first TD pass of his career on his own senior night.
After forcing a safety on defense and then punching the ball into the endzone with Spann, the Huskies seemed like they would start pulling away from the Cardinals. On the most controversial call of the game, Jerry Kill decided to go for an onside kick that Ball State recovered on NIU's 38 yd line.
The rest of the first half resulted in two Ball State field goals, making the score 16-13 going in to the half. On offense, Me'co Brown wasn't effective and Grady was both sacked and intercepted on two different series.
Chandler Harnish made his return at the start of the 2nd half and drove the Huskies down the field. On 3rd and 4 at BSU's 22 yd line, the Huskies called a timeout. The resulting play was a run up the middle with Brown and Salerno went on to kick a field goal to make it 19-13 Huskies.
Ball State got backed up into their own territory and NIU had great field position after the punt. NIU's drive resulted in a Harnish TD pass to Marcus Lewis in the right corner of the endzone. Yet another senior getting his first TD ever on senior day. The Huskie offense stalled as two separate QB sacks made it hard to continue the drives late in the game. NIU's defense bended, but did not break apart from a temporary lapse by FS Mike Sobol giving up a touchdown.
Timeouts were wasted by Ball State and eventually the Huskies were able to run the clock down to seal a victory.
Both Spann and Brown were shaken up towards the end of the game. Spann was favoring his shoulder, but it didn't seem to serious of an injury watching how he was acting on the sidelines.
It was great to get Harnish some reps in this game to prepare for next week against Ohio. The Huskies now have 9 days to prepare for Saturday's matchup against the 7-3 Bobcats. That looming game may or may not be the deciding factor into whether we get a quality bowl game or not.
GO HUSKIES!
What are your thoughts on the game?
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It's kind of hard to pick one Player of the Game
Part of me wants to give at least a portion of it to Ball State’s offensive line who had false start after false start. That sure helped out our defense.
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
by Tackle Box on Nov 13, 2009 7:24 AM CST reply actions 0 recs
Bowl Game
It was an ugly game but a must win. It looks like we have to beat Ohio to get a bowl berth. Is anyone aware of any conferences that might not be able to meet all of their bowl obligations that we can start tracking.
by sox71 on Nov 13, 2009 7:36 AM CST reply actions 0 recs
at large bowl bids
Depending on what happens in the next couple of weeks, there may be as many as six or seven at-large bowl bids available, and probably no fewer than four. (One or two ACC slots, one or two Mountain West, one or two Big Ten, one SEC, maybe one PAC 10 if USC gets a BSC game.)
All 7-5 teams need to get an at-large bid before any of those slots can be offered to a 6-6 team, so NIU’s got a very good chance of a bowl, even if they lose to Ohio and CMU. Every 7-5 team from the BCS conferences will get one of the games contracted to their respective conferences; so that basically leaves the 7-5 mid-major teams competing for at-large bids, and I don’t think there will be many of those (best guess: Middle Tennessee, Fresno, NIU, Ohio, Bowling Green).
by marksstc on Nov 13, 2009 11:52 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs
Personally
I’d like to play in a bowl game that’s actually affiliated with the MAC for once. The Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl would be great for the fans.
Red and Black Attack - Northern Illinois Pride
by Mike Breese on Nov 13, 2009 12:47 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
MAC West
Doesn’t anyone have any hope for the CMich game, and a shot at a title?
by clincher on Nov 13, 2009 8:34 AM CST reply actions 0 recs
I have hope
but I really fear what Lefevour can do (running and passing) agaisnt our defense. I’m sure we can score against CMU, but I’m not sure if we can ever stop them. Should be a good game and should be a high scoring affair.
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
by Tackle Box on Nov 13, 2009 11:28 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs
look at who they've beaten
The MAC teams with the best records have essentially compiled their records by beating teams with losing records. CMU did beat Michigan State on the road (fluky, perhaps, but give them credit), but none of the FBS teams they’ve beaten has a winning record. Same thing with Ohio. Temple won at Navy – about as good as CMU beating MSU especially in light of Navy’s win at ND. NIU beat Purdue (which can still get bowl eligible with wins over MSU and Indiana), but the Huskies have got the rest of their wins against teams with losing records. So it’s hard to say — you’d have to give CMU a big edge over NIU as the home team, but strange things happen in the MAC.
by marksstc on Nov 13, 2009 12:02 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
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