NIU 54, WIU 15: 5 takeaways from the season opening victory

DeKALB – The NIU football team opened the season Saturday with a 54-15 win over Western Illinois.

Here are five takeaways from the win.

Ethan Hampton’s breakout

After winning the starting quarterback job over Jalen Macon and Josh Holst, Hampton proved he can be more than a game manager right from the start.

On the second play of the game, his first pass attempt went deep down the left side to Dane Pardridge for a 50-yard touchdown and a 6-0 NIU lead. And the bombs didn’t stop there.

Hampton launched a 47-yard toss to Trayvon Rudolph, who pulled it down despite a receiver catching up to him. The drive ended with Hampton hitting Cam Thompson on third-and-goal from the 11 for a score and a 13-3 lead.

Later in the second quarter Hampton led the Huskies on a nine-play, 68-yard drive that drained 5:05 off the clock after a half full of quick scoring strikes, putting NIU up 27-6 with 1:55 left. They managed to score again before halftime on a 43-yard bomb to Rudolph for a 34-3 lead.

Hampton played one series in the second half, leading the Huskies on another scoring drive, this one ending with a 7-yard run by Jaylen Poe. The extra-point kick was blocked and returned 103 yards by Frederik Greenhoward for two points as NIU led 47-5.

Hampton finished 18-of-20 passing for 328 yards and five touchdowns. He did not commit a turnover. Macon rushed for a touchdown to push lead to 54-8 with 8 minutes left in the game.

Turnover trouble briefly strikes

Despite the eventual rout, Western Illinois was hanging around. After Gavin Williams fumbled on the Leathernecks’ 12, WIU went 61 yards and got a field goal, pulling to within 6-3.

Earlier on the drive, Nathan Lamb found Duncan Tristan on a short pass over the middle, and he took off for the end zone, bobbing and weaving past the NIU defense for an apparent touchdown.

But a holding call negated the touchdown and a chance for the Leathernecks to take the lead. Western ran 25 plays to that point on three drives, but ran only 12 on the three full first-half drives after, including two three-and-outs.

Pulling away without Brown

Antario Brown had a solid day, rushing eight times for 72 yards. But his usage started to decrease in the second quarter.

In the middle of the second, Rudolph took a sweep 60 yards for a one-play scoring drive, pushing the NIU lead to 20-3. On the nine-play scoring drive that followed, Brown was on the field for only one play, and the Huskies still had a sustained touchdown drive.

Brown did not play in the second half. Poe got most of the carries. Five Huskies had at least 40 rushing yards – Poe, Brown, Rudolph, Williams and Justin Lynch.

Familiar faces for Western Illinois

The Western Illinois roster was peppered not just with former NIU players, but a pair of former DeKalb Barbs.

Toriano Tate, who committed to NIU before ending up at Western, handled kickoffs for the Leathernecks. He averaged 18.2 yards per return on nine attempts. DeKalb grad Mike Newman was also on the roster for the Leathernecks and had a late tackle. Newman also spent a couple of years at NIU.

Thomas Brunner, a former NIU defensive tackle, had three tackles, one for loss. Keion Battle, a former NIU receiver, was on the WIU online roster but not the game-day roster

Ending some FCS struggles

Saturday’s win was only the second time in Hammock’s six seasons the Huskies beat an FCS team by more than 14 points. It hit a low point last year with a 14-11 loss to Southern Illinois. The other blowout win against an FCS school in the Hammock was a 41-14 win against Maine in 2021, the year of the Hammock’s MAC championship under Hammock.

In 2016, Western Illinois beat the Huskies in DeKalb 28-23.