Nov. 23,
2005
Box
Score
NIU Clinches
Division, MAC Title Game Berth With 42-7 Win Over Western Michigan
DeKalb, IL -
If there was a question mark of whether or not that the Northern
Illinois University football team could win its contest for the
Mid-American West Division Championship against Western Michigan
on Wednesday afternoon, it was quickly changed to an exclamation
point, as the host Huskies, behind 277 yards and five rushing touchdowns
from junior running back Garrett Wolfe, cruised past the
Broncos for the 42-7 victory at Huskie Stadium.
Wolfe's 277 rushing yards are the second-best in NCAA Division I-A
football this season, behind Reggie Bush's 294 yards vs. Fresno
State on November 19, 2005. Those 277 yards mark his sixth career
200-yard effort and his 13th career 100-yard game. Wolfe was quick
to credit his offensive line following the victory.
"My teammates give me a lot of the credit," Wolfe said.
"Anyone who watches film will see I am running to daylight.
"They did a great job and they make my life easier."
With the victory, NIU improves to 7-4 overall and 6-2 in MAC play.
The Huskies now advance to the Mid-Am Championship on December 1st
at Ford Field in Detroit, MI, to square off with either Bowling
Green or Akron at 6:30 p.m. (CST). WMU falls to 7-4 on the season
and 5-3 in MAC action.
"We beat a good football team," NIU head coach Joe
Novak said. "I can't say enough about our last three games,
Detroit is beautiful in December.
"I hope we get a bowl opportunity, because our kids deserve
it," Novak said. "But right now, we're going to focus
on the MAC Championship game."
Partially due to high winds, NIU was forced to run early and often,
as the Huskies carried the ball 50 times for 366 yards, led by Wolfe's
36 rushes. Redshirt freshman quarterback Dan Nicholson, however,
was quite efficient in his limited number of passes, going 8-for-13
for 160 yards and a touchdown.
Western Michigan got on the board on their first drive of the afternoon,
as Broncos' back-up quarterback Robbie Haas (25-of-40 for173 yards)
found tight end Tony Scheffler (9 catches, 68 yards) in the back
corner of the end zone for a 19-yard scoring strike, giving WMU
the 7-0 advantage following a Nate Meyer point-after-try. WMU starting
quarterback Tim Hiller left the game early in the first quarter
with a right leg injury.
NIU, however, stormed back, scoring 28 unanswered points behind
three touchdowns by Wolfe and a 53-yard play-action pass touchdown
from Nicholson to Sam Hurd, giving the Huskies the 28-7 lead
over WMU heading into the intermission. Hurd's touchdown catch put
him over 1,000 receiving yards for the season, becoming just the
fifth-player in school history to do so. For the day, Hurd had four
catches for 119 yards.
The onslaught continued in the second half, as Wolfe found the endzone
two more times on runs of 1 and 6 yards respectively.
The victory also marked the end of an era for seniors George
Daglas, Adrian Davis, Jake Ebenhoch, A.J. Harris,
Quince Holman, Sam Hurd, Jason Hutton, Jason
Labus, Ben Lueck, Shatone Powers, Pat Raleigh,
Edgar Rodriguez, Deon Smith, Ray Smith, Brian
Van Acker, Martin Wilson plus Shea Fitzgerald
posthumously.
(For further information, please contact Matt Brendich) -NIU-
