NIU looking to regain close-game success, plus other things to watch for ahead of WMU

DeKALB – The struggling Northern Illinois University football team heads to Kalamazoo, Michigan, on Wednesday to face MAC-leading Western Michigan.

The Broncos (5-3, 4-0) are the only MAC team still undefeated in conference and have won four straight games, including 52-21 against Kent State on Oct. 26.

The Huskies (4-4, 1-3) have lost two straight. After falling 13-6 to Toledo they lost 25-23 at Ball State. NIU has won the past two games in the series, including 24-0 in DeKalb last year and 24-21 on the road in 2022.

Kickoff is at 6 p.m. Wednesday on ESPN2. Here are three things to know about the game.

Regaining close-game magic

Against Ball State, NIU took the lead on a field goal with 15 seconds left, but the Cardinals answered with a big gain and a field goal of their own in the closing seconds.

The Huskies are 1-4 in one-score games this season, losing four in a row since a 16-14 win at Notre Dame.

Tight end Grayson Barnes said the Huskies have to capitalize on their long drives to help tip the direction of close games. They are second in the MAC in total offense, first in total defense and are sitting at 1-3 without a realistic path to the MAC title game in Detroit.

“We’ve had multiple drives where we’re just driving down the field, taking yards and yards and yards, converting and allowing our defense to rest,” Barnes said. “Then all of a sudden something happens. We drop the ball or it gets intercepted or something. We just need to take care of the football and keep driving on people.”

What’s the quarterback situation look like?

Josh Holst started last week, but Ethan Hampton ended up closing the game out as NIU fell behind at Ball State, and coach Thomas Hammock said Hampton is more of the passing quarterback.

Hampton finished 18 of 33 for 168 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Holst was 7 for 10 with 64 yards and an interception. The picks were the first by an NIU quarterback since a 34-20 win against UMass on Oct 5.

The 232 combined passing yards were the most against an FBS opponent this season.

“Obviously, each quarterback we have in the program does things extremely well,” Hammock said. “You want to tailor plays to what they do really, really well. We’ve got extra time this week to let guys compete and see who gives us the best chance to beat Western.”

Mini-bye reassessment

With 10 days off between games, the transition from weekend to mid-week games offered the Huskies a bit of a mini-bye after going through the first two-thirds of the season 4-4.

The Huskies have turned the ball over 13 times this season, 91st in the country. They forced six turnovers, 110th in the country. And their turnover margin is 118th nationally. They’re also 125th in net punting average (34.9)

“I think we have to be better situationally,” Hammock said. “We’ve looked at turnovers. How can we protect the ball better on offense? We looked at takeaways. How can we take the ball away on defense? And then we looked at special teams. How can we continue to improve out special teams unit.”

Prediction: Western Michigan 23, NIU 20