Defense falters early for NIU in loss at Central Michigan

It seemed over.

Central Michigan scored touchdowns on its first two drives of the second half, pushing its lead against Northern Illinois University to 26 points with just over 21 minutes left in the game.

But NIU scored the game’s final three touchdowns and had the ball, down by six, with a chance to win in the final two minutes in a 37-31 loss.

“Obviously, we dug ourselves too big of a hole to come back,” NIU coach Thomas Hammock said. “We’re going to continue to play, we’re going to continue to fight and we’ll do the same thing next week, as well.”

Central Michigan (5-4 overall, 3-2 MAC) had been struggling offensively heading into the game, but figured things out from the start against the Huskies (4-5, 2-3). The Chippewas built a 24-3 lead at the break. They had run for 191 yards by halftime and amassed 272 total yards of offense against an NIU defense that was in the top 20 in the country entering the game.

The Chippewas ended up with two backs with more than 100 yards, including 202 yards on 21 carries for Marion Lukes. Quarterback Jase Bauer added 106 yards on 20 carries and two touchdowns. Four of their five touchdowns came on the ground.

“We missed a lot of tackles,” Hammock said. “They put a lot of stress on us with the quarterback element. They put a lot of stress on the run game and that running back was really strong. We have to be better, come downhill, shed the blocks and finish tackles.”

The Huskies had 159 yards of total offense at the break. They got 61 yards on the third play of the third quarter, a touchdown run by Antario Brown to cut the lead to 24-11. But Central Michigan kept it on the ground and scored two more touchdowns to push the lead to 37-11.

NIU answered with a touchdown, a 72-yard screen to Trayvon Rudolph with 5:56 left in the third. Central Michigan got down to the NIU 17 after a 51-yard drive, but missed a field goal.

With 5:50 left in the third, Central Michigan already had 429 yards of total offense. However, the Chippewas managed only 18 for the rest of the game. They still finished with 331 rushing yards an average of 7 yards per carry.

On the first play after the missed field goal, Rudolph ripped off another 46 yards on a screen pass from Rocky Lombardi. That drive ended with a 22-yard screen pass to Grayson Barnes for a touchdown.

Hammock said those explosive plays helped not just by saving time on the clock, but they sparked the team’s confidence, as well.

“Guys felt like we had a chance to come back and win the game,” Hammock said. “We just need more of those plays in the first half. That’s the prognosis.”

NIU added another score with 3:27 left, cutting the lead to 37-31. The defense forced its third straight three-and-out, but Lombardi threw an interception on the next drive. NIU forced another three-and-out with seconds left, but the clock expired on the CMU punt.

The Huskies outgained CMU 506-447 in total yards, had 208 yards on the ground and averaged 7.2 yards per carry. Lombardi finished 20-of-35 passing for 298 yards, three touchdowns, an interception and a lost fumble. Brown had 167 yards on 22 carries,

“We have to teach off the things we didn’t do well,” Hammock said. “We have to look at ourselves and say we didn’t handle these situations well. But then you can turn to the second half and say if we build on the second half, this is where we can go offensively and defensively.”