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DeKALB – Despite 391 yards of offense, the NIU football team couldn’t find the end zone and fell 13-6 to Toledo on Saturday.
The loss drops the Huskies to 1-2 in MAC play and makes the likelihood of playing in the conference title game very low. At 4-3 overall, however, a bowl game remains a possibility.
Here are five takeaways from the game.
Offense dries up late
The Huskies had almost 250 yards in the first half, but struggled to finish drives. In the second half, they struggled to even get across midfield.
They had three fourth-quarter drives down 13-6 with a chance to tie things up, though one was in the final two minutes. The first one got into Toledo territory thanks in part to a Josh Holst pass to Cam Thompson for 12 yards. But a penalty stalled things out and NIU had to punt.
NIU then forced the Rockets (5-3, 2-1) to punt, but the next drive didn’t fare much better. The Huskies converted a fourth-and-3 with a Holst pass to Dane Pardridge to get to midfield. On the next set of downs, Holst scrambled on a third-and-10 and at first was marked for the first down. Upon review, the spot was overturned and the fourth-down run came up short by Holst on a dive up the middle with 2:54 left.
Toledo had a three-and-out, leaving the Huskies 1:50 to try to tie or win the game. They converted a fourth-and-10 on the first set of downs with a Holst pass to Trayvon Rudolph.
On third-and-10 on the next set of downs, Rudolph dropped a third-and-10 pass with 1:05 left, then the fourth down pass was incomplete. Toledo went three-and-out and NIU stopped the clock each time, giving the Huskies the ball back in the final 40 seconds for some desperation plays from their own 10. But Toledo stopped them all and left with the victory.
NIU catches a break on long Toledo scoring drive
The Rockets were having trouble moving the ball but were winning the field position battle, at least until NIU pinned the Rockets back on their own 8-yard line.
Toledo had missed its first seven third-down conversions and faced third-and-7 at the 11. The Rockets got eight yards. Later on the NIU 44, they easily got a third-and-1 pickup.
Then the penalties came.
Jashon Prophete was called for a hold and pass interference on consecutive plays, moving the Rockets all the way down to the NIU 12. The Huskies caught a break when Connor Jones dropped a sure touchdown on third-and-2 from the 4, so the Rockets settled for a field goal and a 10-6 lead with 2:22 left after the 12-play, 88-yard scoring drive.
Foul fourth downs
Neither NIU nor Toledo shied away from going for it on fourth down. Even if both teams struggled to convert.
The teams missed their first five combined fourth-down attempts, all in the first half. NIU started the party in the first, facing a fourth-and-1 from the 47 of Toledo, with Brock Lampe stuffed on the rush.
On the next drive, Toledo eschewed a 22-yard field goal and went for the fourth-and- 1, with Jalonnie Williams stuffing Sevaughn Clark’s rush.
Toledo had another fourth down in field goal range, still trailing 3-0, but instead went for a fourth-and-8 from the NIU 27 and came up short. NIU on the next drive faced a fourth-and-9 from Toledo’s 39, but Pardridge dropped Holst’s pass.
On NIU’s next possession, now down 7-3, Grayson Barnes fumbled an end round at the Toledo 26, within field goal range. NIU recovered, but fell short of the first.
NIU went for a 47-yard field goal instead of a fourth-and-8 as the first half was winding down, but Kanon Woodill missed the kick. NIU went 2 for 8 on fourth down.
Holst’s hot start
In his first drive in his first start, Holst orchestrated a nine-play, 56-yard scoring drive that ended in a 36-yard field goal for Woodill.
Holst kept the drive alive with his feet. Facing a third-and-15 at his own 44, Holst took off and scrambled for 15 yards and a first.
His next drive netted 36 yards, though a personal foul on Toledo after a 12-yard pass to Gavin Williams on the first play of the drive was most of the offense.
Defensive hiccup
The Huskies finished the first half with 242 yards of offense and held the Rockets to 143. But 52 of those yards came on one play for Toledo and were pivotal.
NIU’s defense left Jerjuan Newton uncovered on second-and-1 from the Toledo 48. He caught the pass from John Alan Richter without a defender within 10 yards, and scored the game’s first touchdown with 8:08 left in the first half.
NIU tacked on three more points on before halftime, running nine plays and covering 60 yards in just 1:16 to set Woodill up for a 37-yard field goal. NIU trailed 7-6 at the break.