Northern Illinois Huskies stomp Arkansas State to take GoDaddy.com Bowl 38-20
by Mike Breese on Jan 9, 2012 1:05 AM CST
in Football
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PrintIt was one of the weirdest games that I had ever experienced. The way the offense started off, unsure of themselves and giving ASU chances to score. Once that happened, things got shored up and the Huskies rattled off 31 straight points to win a bowl game for the second straight year.
This senior class has the best record over every Huskie team that has come before them.
There was a little bit of everything in this one: Close calls and reviews, injuries, clocks not working, mics not working. Heck, even the internet in the press booth didn't work.
Chandler Harnish had a hurt ankle? No problem, Jordan Lynch scores a touchdown and so does Jamal Womble somehow.
Arkansas State flat-out looked unimpressive on offense. And although their defense was good, the NIU offense found their spots to pick. It didn't hurt that Martel Moore was on our side. The defense put good pressure on and forced three interceptions and two fumbles. The D looked as solid as I have ever seen it this season, and certainly helped out when the offense was mis-firing early on or missing field goals.
More to come later, but this is one sweet bowl victory.
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Nice, weird game
A delightful way to prolong the weekend and our last fond look at the 2011 MAC Champion NIU Huskies. The defense was alot of fun to watch this time. I was impressed with the way the D held their poise in the title game and never freaked out — they seem to have been on a trajectory since the Toledo game.
It really was a weird game
Overall the game was a lot of fun to watch. The defense looked great and really held it together. A great way to cap off a great season!
Solid D Effort makes you wonder
This was a great win for NIU. Keeping in mind that our D was suspect all season and they really only played 6-7 solid halfs of football all year. this was a successful performance and gives me hope that our D will be even better next year. Much better than I expected.
The O sputtered the first 10 minutes, but once they got it together, no one could stop them. I beleive that ASU was a little over rated because of the conference they play in (much like us) But, I think the MAC is better. (The MAC went 4-1 this bowl season and they really should have been 5-0)
So, what does this really mean for NIU Football. Well, I expect they will end up in the top 25, if not very close with a very senior heavy Offense (Mainly the O-line worrys me most for next year) We will only have 1 starting O-line returning next year and this will be a huge issue to over come next year. I think Lynch will be OK now that Chandler is done. He has a few others who will challenge for the starting job. I think if Lynch can play anything like he did on that drive in the first half, he will be OK next year.
The D was so young that it can only get better with another year. We lose Progar (I think) and Pat in the middle. We obviously did OK without Progar.
Anyway, It turned out to be a much better than expected year and a very interesting team to watch all year round. If the goal is to be the next Boise State, then we had better get going. Great year NIU!!!
Progar
Cool, maybe he learned a lesson about what success is all about. Nice to have him another year. The more I think about it the better I like NIU for next year as well.
I was looking through the roster the other night
and, while they do lose Harnish and almost the entire Offensive line, the rest of the team looks to be in pretty good shape.
And with the way the defense got better and better under Doeren as the year went on, I think we’re going to see a really good defense as long as Doeren is the head coach. It might even become our strong suit which is weird to think about a Huskie team not being Offense first and scoring 40 points a game.
This life's hard, man, but it's harder if you're stupid.
- Jackie Brown
THANKS FOR THE GREAT SEASON HUSKIES
Scary to see Harnish limp off with that ankle. Too bad he couldn’t get the rushing yards he needed to break the record.
All in all, a great game, but what was up with Simms?
Harnish
His playing status is always at 100%.
He is the most interesting man in the world…
Hey how ’bout the Harnish highlight reel from ESPN during the game!? that was very cool!
Dave Doeren, is God. Thank you for leaving Jerry.
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