Carifio: Despite lopsided score, turnovers, plenty of positives after NIU loss to Buffalo

DeKALB – It would take a real local hack to look at a game in which NIU was losing by 32 points in the fourth quarter, committed five turnovers of which three were returned by Buffalo for scores, and see a relatively bright beacon of hope.

For starters, the Huskies showed some big-play capabilities in their 49-30 loss to the Bulls Wednesday, something that was sorely missing last year. And the most likely source of those big plays, at least after Week 1, is Trayvon Rudolph.

In one game alone, Rudolph had more kick return yards (151) than the Huskies had all of last year as a team (141). Not in a game, and not just for an individual over the course of the season. He outgained the whole darn 2019 kick return unit.

And if that wasn't enough for Rudolph – a true freshman walk-on who was awarded a scholarship during camp – he added two catches for 56 yards, showing an evasiveness and quickness that you like to see out of a receiver.

He almost had a touchdown to boot in the fourth quarter, but a pass from Ross Bowers went through his hands. Two plays later Bowers threw a pick-six, making it 48-16 with 12:14 left in the game.

Also, Harrison Waylee, despite one first-half carry, finished as the leading rusher for NIU with 66 yards and 13 carries, with a long of 15. The true freshman was the only one of NIU's three running backs not to fumble the ball.

The defense held Buffalo running back Jaret Patterson, let's say, kind of in check. He ran 20 times for 143 yards and two touchdowns. But they definitely kept him check later in the game. After he broke off a 56-yard run in the second quarter, he ran eight more times for 35 yards.

If 143 yards and two touchdowns end up being the biggest game for Buffalo's all-time leader in touchdowns, let's just say that will be a big surprise.

At the start of the year, I couldn't really get a handle on this team. Honestly, 0-6 wouldn't have surprised me, nor would have 6-0.

After one game – aside from the fact 6-0 would *really* surprise me now – I'm pretty much in the same spot. Obviously, the bright spots are there, and if they can just not turn the ball over five times, it would have been a very different game Wednesday.

But you can't just handwave away those turnovers. Sure, they could be the product of playing a tough defense – although Bowers' fumble that was returned for a score was unforced. But this was a turnover-prone team last year and to dismiss them outright is crazy.

And while there is some big-play capability with Waylee and Rudolph, there weren't exactly big plays on offense again. The Huskies had only one play over 30 yards, a pass from third-string quarterback Rodney Thompson to Fabian McCray for 34 yards, the play before Thompson ran in the Huskies' final touchdown of the game from 13-yards out.

Waylee had three of the team's five rushes for over 10 yards – the others were Thompson's run and a jet sweep from Tyrice Richie for 19 yards, the biggest rush of the game.

The team is definitely showing more bright spots than a year ago. There are also some areas of alarm.

But they played what's probably going to be the best team in the MAC close for three quarters, with the game only getting out of hand because of basically three plays. While it could be indicative of a problem for the team moving forward, there's a lot more evidence that the Huskies can be very competitive in the MAC West.