Oct. 14, 2006
Recap |
Final Stats
NORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOTBALL 2006
Post-Game Notes
NIU vs. Western Michigan
Oct. 14, 2006
***The blocked punt by NIU's Greg Turner was the first blocked punt for Northern Illinois since Dec. 30, 2004 when Dustin Utschig blocked a Troy punt in the Silicon Valley Bowl. When Jarret Carter recovered the punt in the end zone for the NIU touchdown, it was the first blocked punt recovered for a touchdown by NIU since Sept. 6, 2003, when Ray Smith's block was recovered by Devon Francis in the endzone versus Tennessee Tech.
***Senior Jarret Carter recorded his first career touchdown on the blocked punt recovery. Tim McCarthy's first-quarter interception was the first of his career and NIU's second interception of the season. It was also the longest INT return of the year for Northern Illinois (44 yards).
***Northern Illinois kicker Chris Nendick extended his school record consecutive game scoring streak to 31 games with his first-quarter PAT. Nendick has scored at least one point in every game of his NIU career.
***Keenan Blalark equaled his season-high with 14 tackles (also vs. Buffalo on Sept. 16). Dustin Utschig had a season-best 12 stops. Mark Reiter set a career-high with 12 tackles. Craig Rusch and Cory Hanson each tied career bests with nine and eight tackles, respectively.
***The Northern Illinois offense ran only five plays in the first quarter thanks to the special teams' touchdown.
***NIU's Andy Dittbenner recorded a career-long 57-yard punt in the third quarter.
***NIU TB Garrett Wolfe was held to 25 yards on 18 carries Saturday, the first time he has been held below 100 yards since last year's regular season game at Akron (Sept. 24, 2005) when he had 52 yards on 21 carries. Prior to today's game, Wolfe had recorded 11 straight 100-yard rushing games (in fact, he was over 150 yards in each of his past 11 contests) and had scored at least one touchdown in 11 straight contests.
***NIU totaled 157 yards of total offense today. The last time Northern Illinois was held to less than 200 offensive yards was on November 9, 2004 versus Toledo when the Huskies had just 180. The Huskies have not been held to less than 200 yards in the last five years (since 2001).
