Northern Illinois becomes bowl-eligible with their sixth win of the season in a wet and wild weeknight clash.
It was a wet and windy game that featured 13 punts, five fumbles (but only one turnover), three bobbled snaps, a plethora of dropped passes, and five scores of more than 30 yards. But, at the end of the day, the ground attack from the Northern Illinois Huskies was enough to knock off the Akron Zips, 29-16.
NIU (6-4, 3-3 MAC) was able to churn out 439 yards— with a massive 295 yards rushing—against Akron to claim their sixth game of the season and become bowl-eligible. All four of Northern’s touchdowns were big plays of 30 or more yards, with a pair of Huskies rushing for more than 100 yards each in the game. Freshman Telly Johnson led the way with 104 yards on 21 carries, while Gavin Williams was right behind him with nine carries for 101 yards and a score.
The Zips (2-8, 1-5 MAC) struggled to get anything going on offense after the first twenty minutes of play. Quarterback Ben Finley completed just 19 of his 52 passing attempts (36. percent) and the ground game netted them just 50 total yards, well shy of their average of 85.6 yards.
It wasn’t a pretty start for Akron, as after a three-and-out on their first drive, their punter bobbled the snap, tried to run and get off a kick but whiffed it and the Huskies took over at the Zips’ 21-yard line. NIU only managed a field goal after the fumble and was able to take an early 3-0 lead.
Akron would quickly counter though, as on their next drive they went 68-yards in just seven plays and took the lead when Finley found Adrian Norton for a 40-yard touchdown pass. They went for two and the Huskies weren’t fooled, stuffing the QB run by Tahj Bullock to keep the score at 6-3.
NIU would quickly retake the lead on their first long touchdown, as wide receiver Trayvon Rudolph took the snap from the wildcat formation and ran it 58 yards untouched to give the Huskies a 10-6 lead. After an Akron punt, Rudolph would once again score in a non-traditional way for a receiver. He took a jet sweep hand-off from quarterback Ethan Hampton, rolled out to the right and threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to fellow wideout Dane Pardridge to put NIU up 11, 17-6.
Akron would manage a field goal on their next drive to cut into the lead and then, on the ensuing Huskie possession, the Zips would close the gap even further when they blocked Northern’s punt and recovered it in the endzone. They elected to go for one instead of two, and that brought the Zips to within a single point at 17-16.
Soon after, the Huskies faced a 4th-and-1 at the Akron 32-yard line, and opted to go for it— a very interesting decision in what was at that point a one-score game. Hampton faked the hand-off to Johnson, rolled out and found a wide-open Grayson Barnes on the flat for a first down. Akron’s defense, unfortunately for them, was keyed in on stopping Johnson, allowing Barnes an open highway to the endzone to give the Huskies a seven-point lead. NIU elected to go for two after Akron committed a penalty on the first point-after try, but the pass attempt was dropped and the score remained 23-16.
After the touchdown, the score remained the same for most of the second half as the weather took its toll on the players. There was a streak of eleven straight drives of punts or turnover on downs between the two teams, with neither team managing to get more than 35 yards in a drive.
Then, finally, it happened. NIU struck lightning fast as on the first play of the drive Gavin Williams took a jet sweep 71-yards untouched down the sidelines. The snap on the extra point was bobbled and the Huskies just ate it. But the score was now 29-16 with just under eight minutes left to play.
Akron quickly went three-and-out on their next drive and then forced NIU to punt it back to them. On their final attempt they were able to get inside the Huskies’ 35-yard line but Finley threw four straight incompletions and NIU was able to kneel out the rest of the clock, securing the win.
The Zips finished the game with 255 yards, 205 passing and 50 rushing, but were 6-18 on third downs and had five penalties for just 22 yards. Finley finished 19-of-52 with all 205 passing yards. Norton led the Zips with 57 receiving yards on two catches, while Conner Cravaack had three catches for 47 yards. Jordon Simmons rushed the ball 12 times for 56 yards.
NIU finished the game with 439 yards, 144 passing and 295 rushing. Hampton was 9-fo-16 for 105 yards with a TD, while Rudolph complete his only pass for 39 yards and a TD. Johnson and Williams combined for 205 yards on the ground while Rudolph added another 57 on his two carries.
Up next, the Zips will travel to Kent, Ohio to take on the winless Kent State Golden Flashes next Tuesday, November 19th, with the time and TV options not yet decided.
The Huskies also play on short rest and head to Ohio, as they’ll take on the Miami RedHawks, who are 5-1 in conference play, next Tuesday, November 19th. The kickoff time and TV network are also not yet determined for that game.