NIU’s red zone offense falters in loss to Ohio

ATHENS, Ohio – As Northern Illinois coach Thomas Hammock stood outside his team’s locker room after the Huskies’ 24-17 loss to Ohio, he had the look of a man who knew his players had done almost everything to put themselves in position to win the game.

But the line between victory and defeat is often slim, and the one thing that the Huskies didn’t do Saturday at Peden Stadium proved to be their undoing. They didn’t finish their drives once they crossed into Ohio’s side of the field.

Out of nine NIU possessions, seven of them ended in Ohio territory, with three crossing into the red zone. Yet the Huskies could only muster 17 points, as two of their three trips to the red zone ended in John Richardson field goals. Kacper Rutkiewicz’s 11-yard score near the end of the third quarter proved to be Northern Illinois’ only touchdown, as the Huskies’ offense won the yardage battle but couldn’t close the deal.

“We’ve got to finish drives in the red zone with touchdowns,” Hammock said. “That was our Achilles’ heel [Saturday]. We played a team game and did some of the things that we wanted to do, and we had a chance to win the game, but we came up a couple of plays short.”

The Huskies (2-6, 1-3 MAC) gave themselves a chance to win because their running backs answered the call and ran all over the Bobcats (5-3, 3-1). Antario Brown ran for a season-high 160 yards on 16 carries, and Harrison Waylee grinded out 97 yards on 18 carries.

For the game, the Huskies rushed for 267 yards on 48 carries, a major reason why only two of their possessions ended on their own half of the field.

“We ran the ball well all week and did really great in practice, so to see that translate into the game is expected,” Waylee said. “We have a great backfield; all of our running backs can run the ball, and we showed that today.”

But when it mattered most, the Huskies couldn’t crack an Ohio defense that has made vast improvements over the past four weeks. Ohio started the season by giving up 44.8 points per game in September, a number that was admittedly skewed by facing Power 5 opponents Penn State and Iowa State.

Since MAC play began, the Bobcats have given up only 24 points per game and have allowed only 31 points in their past eight quarters of action.

“Really, the effort’s been the same and the coaching has been the same,” Ohio coach Tim Albin said. “There’s been some great adjustments by the defensive staff and getting some guys back has helped. The first box checked every week is toughness; we’re going to be the toughest team on Saturday and I believe we were.”

The Bobcats’ toughness was on full display in the second quarter when the Huskies got both of their possessions in the red zone. Out of six plays run inside the Ohio 20, four went for either no gain, an incomplete pass or lost yardage, forcing the Huskies to bring Richardson out on both possessions. Instead of going into halftime with a tie game or the lead, NIU found itself trailing at the break, which allowed Ohio to play without panic when the Huskies finally did tie the game in the third quarter.

“That was a physical football game,” Hammock said. “I love the way we fought, but we’ve got to score touchdowns in the red zone. We got in some third-and-long situations, and that obviously slowed us down in the red zone. We’ve got to make sure that we stay ahead of the sticks and in manageable situations so we can get it.”

With four games to go, the Huskies know their challenge over the final month of the season will be anything but easy. But with a week and a half to go before facing Central Michigan, they know that execution needs to be part of their focus.

“We just need to finish plays and make plays in critical situations,” defensive back Eric Rogers said. “That’s the thing that got us here today. We’ve got to make the plays when they come to us.”