Sluggish NIU offense prepping for UMass: 3 things to know

NIU held its past two opponents to less than 200 yards of offense. The Huskies lost both games thanks to six turnovers.

They’ll search for their first win since beating No. 5 Notre Dame when they take on UMass (1-4). The game kicks off at 11 a.m. on CBS Sports Net.

The teams have met twice, in 2012 and 2013, with NIU (2-2) winning both by a combined 126-19. Here are three things to know about this year’s game.

Confidence in quarterback, offense

Although the Huskies outgained NC State 279-171, they committed four turnovers in the 24-17 road loss. Two Ethan Hampton fumbles inside the 2-yard line led directly to Wolfpack touchdowns. He also threw two interceptions.

Coach Thomas Hammock said the turnovers weren’t completely on Hampton. The Wolfpack had 12 tackles for loss, and in their Cover 0 defense there were breakdowns in the Huskies protection.

Hammock said there are no plans to change Hampton, who has completed 58.6% of his passes for 879 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions.

“Obviously, Ethan knows he needs to play better,” Hammock said. “But I don’t want a quarterback that’s looking over his shoulder, either. Our quarterback, we’re comfortable with him. But guys have to make plays around him.”

Hammock called playing quarterback the hardest job in any sport because of the criticism it draws. On the first sack fumble, Hammock said, a running back missed a block. He even quoted Tom Brady’s wife at the time, Gisele Bundchen’s, comment after a Super Bowl loss about Brady not being able to throw and catch the ball at the same time.

“One thing about Ethan, he has put in the work, he has put in the time,” Hammock said. “We have to play better around him. Then when we do play better around him, he can’t make silly mistakes. That’s what we’re working on. But we believe in him. He’s doing a nice job, but guys have to make plays.”

Brown getting the tough yards

While he did reach the century mark in rushing with 114 yards on 28 carries, Antario Brown had to grind out 4.1 yards per carry.

He’s averaging almost 140 all-purpose yards per game this season to lead the MAC and rank 13th nationally. Hammock said he told Brown after the game it was one of his best performances.

“We knew it was going to be the type of game where it was going to be 3 yards, 4 yards,” Hammock said. “You may pop a 10-yarder, but you’ve got to stay in the fight. ... Those are the games where you make a name for yourself. If you want to go to the NFL, that’s NFL football right there – 4 yards, 3 yards, 10 yards, 12 yards. I like what he did.”

Brown said he felt like it was one of his tougher games, but he felt like he can get the tough run and keep the chains moving.

“In that moment, in that situation with the crowd and everything, I was able to go get a first down for my team,” Brown said. “It shows the type of player I am.”

Defense something something

Four games into the season, the Huskies are emerging as one of the top defensive teams in the country. They finished in the top 25 last year in total defense. Not only are they seventh in allowing 234.8 yards per game, they’re 17th against the run (89.3) and 10th against the pass (145.5).

The 54 first downs they’ve allowed is fifth fewest in the country, as well.

But while the numbers have generally been getting better as the year goes on – total yards allowed has decreased each game so far this year – the team is on a two-game losing streak.

Defensive lineman Pierce Oppong said one of the focal points of the defense has been forcing turnovers. They’ve forced only three this year, 110th nationally.

“We just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing,” Oppong said. “But we just want to put a big emphasis on helping the offense get the ball back with turnovers. That’s one of our main emphases going into next weekend and forward in general.”

Prediction: NIU 24, UMass 10