Oct. 12, 2010

Northern Illinois Huskies 2010 Football
NIU (4-2, 2-0) vs. Buffalo (2-3, 1-0)

Oct. 16, 2010 | 2:30 p.m. | Huskie All-Access DeKalb, Ill. | Huskie Stadium | 24,000

Huskie Football Facts
2010 Record/MAC Record: 4-2/2-0
2009 Record: 7-6
2009 MAC Record/Finish: 5-3/2nd, West Division
Head Coach: Jerry Kill
Alma Mater/Year: Southwestern (KS)/1983
Record at NIU/Years: 17-15/3rd
Career Record/Years: 121-72/17th
Basic Offense/Defense: Multiple/4-3
First Year of Football: 1899
All-Time Record: 505-459-51
Last Bowl Game: 2010 International Bowl (Toronto): USF 27, NIU 3
Letterwinners Returning/Lost: 49/23 Starters Returning: 19 (6 Off., 11 Def., 2 Spec.)
Starters Lost: 7 (4 Off., 2 Def., 1 Spec.)

Northern Illinois Facts
Location: DeKalb, Illinois
Founded: 1895
Enrollment: 24,397
Affiliation: NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision
Conference: Mid-American (West Division)
Colors: Cardinal and Black
Nickname: Huskies
Stadium: Brigham Field at Huskie Stadium
Surface/Capacity: Field Turf/24,000
President (Alma Mater, Year): Dr. John Peters (John Carroll '67)
Assoc. VP/Athletic Director: Jeff Compher
Alma Mater: James Madison '80
Ticket Information: 815-752-6800
Athletics Website: www.NIUHuskies.com

2010 NIU Schedule

Bufallo Bulls' Facts
2010 Record/Conference Record: 2-3, 0-1
2009 Record/Conference Record/Finish: 5-7/3-5 5th East
Head Coach: Jeff Quinn Alma Mater/Year: Elmhurst '84
Record at Buffalo/Year: 2-3/1st
Career Record/Year: 2-3/1st
Location: Buffalo, N.Y.
Enrollment: 28,881
Conference: Mid-American
Colors: Blue & White
Stadium: UB Stadium
Surface/Capacity: Sportexe Momentum/29,013
President: John B. Simpson
Athletic Director: Warde Manuel
Ticket Information: 1-877-UB-THERE
Athletics Website: www.buffalobulls.com
Football Media Relations Contact: Jon Fuller
Phone: 716-645-6762 (O); 716-359-2728(C)
E-Mail Address: jfuller3@buffalo.edu

2010 UB Schedule

Series History
Overall: NIU leads 5-1
In DeKalb: NIU leads 3-1
In MAC Games: NIU leads 4-0
Streak: NIU, 5
Kill vs. Buffalo: 0-0

Series Scores
1968: Buffalo 20, NIU 7 (H)
1970: NIU 43, Buffalo 26 (H)
1999: NIU 45, Buffalo 21 (A)*
2000: NIU 73, Buffalo 10 (H)*
2003: NIU 40, Buffalo 9 (A)*
2006: NIU 31, Buffalo 13 (H)*

NIU Head Coach Jerry Kill
Jerry Kill is in his third season at Northern Illinois and his 17th season as a collegiate head coach in 2010. The Kansas native has led the Huskies to back-to-back bowl games, and with this season's victory over Minnesota, two wins over Big Ten teams, and a 17-15 overall won-loss record. Kill's 121-72-0 record as a head coach is good for a winning percentage of .627. Prior to NIU, he spent 14 years as head coach of programs at Saginaw Valley State (1994-98), Emporia State (1999-2000) and Southern Illinois (2001-07).

In his first stint as a collegiate head coach at Saginaw Valley State (Mich.) from 1994-98, his teams posted five consecutive winning seasons, a 38-14 overall record and were nationally-ranked in each of his final two years. After two seasons at Emporia State (Kans.), he moved on to Southern Illinois, where he led the Salukis to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs five times, including a trip to the FCS semifinals in 2007.

Southern Illinois went 55-32 during Kill's seven seasons at the helm. He was named the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year in 2004 following a 10-2 campaign, and won the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award in 2007 while leading SIU to a 12-2 record. Southern Illinois spent 64 straight weeks in the Top 20 between 2003 and 2007 and was ranked in the Top 10 for 12 consecutive weeks in 2007.

Kill began his collegiate coaching career at Kansas powerhouse Pittsburg State, beginning in 1985 with three seasons as the defensive coordinator. After spending the 1988 and '89 campaigns as the head coach at Webb City High School where the team won the 1989 state championship, he returned to PSU as offensive coordinator for the then NCAA Division II team. He picked up another championship as the Gorillas won the title in 1991 with a 13-1-1 record.

The Northern Illinois football program has achieved academically under Kill. In his two seasons at NIU, 50 football student-athletes have earned their degrees and the football team's most recent Academic Progress Rate of 975 ranks the Huskies 10th of all Division I schools in the country in eligibility, retention and graduation of student-athletes.

Huskie Multimedia
NIU-Buffalo on Huskie All-Access
Northern Illinois' game vs. Buffalo will be streamed live on-line via Huskie All-Access, which is available at www.NIUHuskies.com. Fans will hear the Northern Illinois ISP Radio Broadcast of the game to accompany the four-camera production. (See more information below.)

NIU-Buffalo on Radio
On radio, fans can listen to the Northern Illinois-Buffalo game on the Huskies' flagship station, WLBK AM 1360 in DeKalb, in Chicago on WSCR AM 670 The Score as well as on WTJK ESPN1380 AM in Janesville, Wis. which covers the Rockford, Ill. market. The NIU-ISP Radio Network broadcast kicks off with the pregame show at 2 p.m. (CT). Hall of Fame broadcaster Bill Baker is in his 31st season as the play-by-play voice of the Huskies and is joined by Mark Lindo, in his 26th year as NIU's color analyst, and fifth-year sideline reporter Casey Kahler.

"Inside Huskie Football" Radio Show
NIU Head Coach Jerry Kill joins host Bill Baker and other special guests on the "Inside Huskie Football" live radio show each Thursday from 7-8 p.m. during the 2010 season. The show takes place at Fatty's Pub & Grille on Lincoln Highway in DeKalb. Hear the show on WLBK 1360 AM DeKalb and on NIU-ISP Radio Network affiliate ?ESPN 1380AM in Janesville, Wis. Future dates for the show are Oct. 14, 21, 28; and Nov. 4, 11, 18.

"NIU Live" Radio Show
Each week, join NIU Associate Vice-President and Director of Athletics Jeff Compher, host Andy Garcia and Northern Illinois coaches for "NIU Live" on WSCR 670 AM The Score in Chicago. The 30-minute show features a weekly update with football coach Jerry Kill as well as interviews with other Huskie coaches and all the latest NIU Athletics news. Air dates and times for the upcoming October shows are:

• Thursday, Oct. 14 - 11-11:30 p.m.
• Thursday, Oct. 21 - 11-11:30 p.m.
• Thursday, Oct. 28 - 11-11:30 p.m.

Huskie All-Access
Fans across the country can hear all NIU live radio broadcasts, including football games and "Inside Huskie Football," and watch the Buffalo and Central Michigan games live on Huskie All-Access at www.NIUHuskies.com. All-Access subscribers pay just $6.95/month or $49.95/year to receive all NIU radio game and show broadcasts, as well as select football and all home men's and women's basketball, volleyball and men's and women's soccer games. Subscribers also have access to Coach Kill's weekly press conferences and special video features.

NIUHuskies.com
Get all of the latest NIU Athletics news and information, statistics, press releases and more online every day at www.NIUHuskies.com, the official athletics website for Northern Illinois University.

Key Links
http://www.mac-sports.com
http://www.buffalobulls.com
http://www.ncaa.org

NIU News and Notes
OctoberFest Continues
Northern Illinois continues its October homestand with the second of three straight home games as the Huskies play host to Buffalo at Huskie Stadium. Saturday's game is also part of Homecoming festivities on the NIU campus.

Huskie Homecoming History
Northern Illinois celebrates its 104th Homecoming this weekend as the annual celebration dates back to an alumni football game played on Oct.

10, 1903. NIU's Homecoming is the oldest major college alumni gathering in the state and the Huskies have one of the longest-celebrated Homecoming traditions in the country. All-time, Northern Illinois is 64-29-10 in its Homecoming football games and has won 11 of its last 12 games in front of the alums. In Huskie Stadium, NIU is 30-13-2 in homecoming games.

Outer Edges
Two of the "outlying" Mid-American Conference schools - Buffalo on the eastern edge and Northen Illinois at the west - meet for just the seventh time ever on the football field and for the fifth time as league opponents. NIU has won every MAC game between the teams and has won five straight games in the series overall after losing the series opener in 1968 by a 20-7 score. Since that time, Northern Illinois has claimed wins over Buffalo by 17, 24, 63, 31 and 18 points. The series includes a 73-10 victory by Northern Illinois in 2000.

Last Time
This is the first game between the Huskies and Bulls since 2006, when Northern Illinois, behind a 263-yard rushing day by Garrett Wolfe, racked up 344 rushing yards en route to a 31-13 victory over Buffalo at Huskie Stadium. NIU took a 17-0 lead in the first half and did not look back as Wolfe scored on runs of 49 and 68 yards while Montell Clanton added a 58-yard touchdown scamper. The Huskies had 500 yards of total offense and averaged 9.1 yards per play.

The Coach's Credentials
Jerry Kill is the only Northern Illinois coach to lead the Huskies to back-to-back bowl games in the "major college" era (since 1969) with trips to the Independence Bowl in 2008 and the International Bowl last season. With the win over Minnesota earlier this year, he became the only coach in school history with two wins over Big Ten Conference opponents. Kill has posted a 17-15 record at NIU, highlighted by the bowl trips and Big Ten wins over Purdue (28-21) in 2009 and Minnesota (34-23). The win at Purdue marked the school's first Big Ten victory in 21 seasons.

Temple Recap
In a match-up of preseason MAC favorites, Northern Illinois broke a 17-17 halftime tie with 14 second-half points while holding Temple scorelesss to earn a 31-17 victory over the Owls at Huskie Stadium. NIU won its third straight game behind Chandler Harnish's 282 yards of total offense (211 passing, 71 rushing) and Chad Spann's third 100-yard rushing game of the season. The Huskie defense limited TU to 122 yards of total offense in the second half while the offense held the ball for 38:10 and converted 11 of 16 third downs.

Home Field Advantage
All-time, Northern Illinois is 137-97-2 at Huskie Stadium, which opened in 1965. NIU owns a .585 winning percentage in games played at Huskie Stadium, including a 47-17 mark (a .734 winning percentage) in its last 64 home contests and a 31-11 record since 2003. Under Jerry Kill, Northern Illinois is 11-3 on Brigham Field, including a 5-1 record last year and a 2-0 mark so far in 2010.

MAC Mark
Northern Illinois is playing its 25th overall season as a member of the Mid-American Conference in 2010. The Huskies are in the 14th season of their second stint in the MAC after originally playing in the league from 1975-85. In Mid-American Conference competition, Northern Illinois is 94-89-2 all-time versus league opponents. NIU posted a 5-3 record in MAC games a year ago, and won all four of its league games at Huskie Stadium. Since rejoining the MAC in 1997, NIU is 59-44 (.573) versus league opponents. Under Jerry Kill, the Huskies are 12-6 in Mid-American Conference games.

Welcome MAC
At home, Northern Illinois is 54-38-1 (.581) all-time in Mid-American Conference games with a 33-19 (.627) mark versus its league counterparts in Huskie Stadium since 1997. The Huskies have won eight of their last nine league home games, and have won five straight. NIU's only home league loss over the last three seasons came in overtime to Central Michigan on Nov. 12, 2008.

Good Start
With the win over Temple, Northern Illinois opened conference play 2-0 for the first time since 2004. NIU broke a string of four straight losses in MAC openers (2005-08) last year with a home win over Western Michigan, but followed that with a loss at Toledo. The Huskies started league play 1-1 in 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2009 and were 0-2 in 2007. In 2004, NIU won its first SIX league games before falling to Toledo at home. Northern Illinois' road win over Akron in the conference opener Oct. 2 marked the first time NIU won its league opener on the road since 2000. Since that time, NIU had opened MAC play on the road three times (2001, 2005, 2008) and lost all three of those games.

Remember the Bulls?
Only six players on the Huskies' 2010 roster were with the Northern Illinois program in 2006 the last time NIU and Buffalo played. None of the current Huskies saw action in that game as Jake Coffman, Ricky Crider, Ed Jackson, Mike Krause and Alex Kube all redshirted that season. Current NIU graduate assistants Melvin Rice and Alex Krutsch started that game at cornerback and defensive tackle, respectively, while the only coach remaining on staff from that time is defensive line coach Jeff Phelps.

1,016/506
The Buffalo game will be the 1,016th game in Northern Illinois history and the Huskies will be looking for their 506th victory all-time. NIU played its 1,000th game and won its 500th, last season and has a 505-459-51 all-time record for a winning percentage of .523. Over the last decade (2000-09), Northern Illinois posted a 68-53 record (.562) with eight winning campaigns, the best mark among any of the three NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams in Illinois.

Back-to-Back
After completing a season-high 20-of-25 passes for 211 yards and two touchdowns (no interceptions) and adding 71 rushing yards on 14 carries versus Temple, Northern Illinois quarterback Chandler Harnish was named the Mid-American Conference West Division Offensive Player of the Week for the second consecutive week. His touchdown passes - of 10 and four yards - both came on third-and-goal. He led NIU on scoring drives of 80, 82, 64, 75 and 90 yards in the game as the Huskies converted 11-of-16 third downs. Harnish is the first quarterback in Northern Illinois history to pick up back-to-back MAC West weekly honors. In 2008, he was the first NIU signal-caller to earn the award twice in one season.

On Target
Northern Illinois junior quarterback Chandler Harnish has turned in two of the most accurate performances of his career in NIU's last three games. Harnish completed 80 percent (16-of-20) of his passes on each of the last two Saturdays, hitting 16-of-20 attempts at Akron and 20-of-25 passes versus Temple, to record the top single game completion percentage games (with at least 10 completions) of his career. Those games narrowly topped his 19-for-25 game at Illinois (Sept. 18) when he was on the mark with 76 percent of his throws. Harnish's current season completion percentage of 71.4 percent (80-of-112) ranks more than seven percent higher than his previous best season rating (64.1 percent in 2009) and more than 15 percent better than his freshman season (55.9).

The Definition of Efficiency
Harnish, who has quarterbacked Northern Illinois in its last five games, improved his league-leading passing efficiency rating to 162.74 and also ranks 13th in the country in that category. The Huskies' single season record for passing efficiency is 159.45, set by Phil Horvath in 2005. Over the last two games, Harnish's passing efficiency rating is 208.51. With his only interception in 112 throws versus North Dakota, his interception percentage (INTs per attempts) is less than one percent (.89).

Weekly Honors List
Chandler Harnish picked up the fifth MAC West Player of the Week honor for Northern Illinois with his selection as the offensive honoree following the NIU-Temple game. Harnish was also named the MAC West Offensive Player of the Week following the Akron game. He joined Chad Spann (Offensive vs. Minnesota), Jimmie Ward (Specialist vs. Minnesota) and Josh Wilber (Specialist vs. Illinois) as Huskies to earn MAC weekly awards this year. Spann was also named the Walter Camp National FBS Offensive Player of the Week following his 223-yard performance against Minnesota.

Moving On Up
Now in his third season as the Huskies' starting quarterback, junior Chandler Harnish continues to climb the NIU career charts in passing, total offense and even rushing. Harnish's 4,125 career passing yards are sixth on the Northern Illinois charts while his 341 completions rank fifth all-time at NIU and his career completion percentage (.624) is third. Harnish's 27 touchdown passes all-time put him eighth on the Huskie list while his 35 total touchdowns responsible for ranks ninth. The Indiana native passed both the 4,000-yard mark in career passing yards and the 5,000-yard threshold in career total offense last Saturday and now has 5,275 yards of total offense (including 1,150 rushing yards) are fifth in NIU history. See Harnish's complete career stats in the player bios section of this release.

Harnish Racing
In four starts at quarterback for the Huskies this season, Chandler Harnish has rushed for 382 yards on 57 carries for a 6.7-yard average. He has four runs of 37 yards or longer, including touchdown runs of 37 (vs. Illinois) and 40 (vs. North Dakota) yards. With 117 yards on 11 carries at Illinois, Harnish passed the 1,000-yard mark for his career; he now has 1,150 yards on 264 attempts with four career 100-yard games. He currently ranks 28th on NIU's all-time rushing list, but is only the third quarterback to surpass the 1,000-yard mark, joining Stacey Robinson (2,727 yards) and Marshall Taylor (1,971). The Bluffton, Ind. native has more rushing yards so far this season (382) than he totaled in 10 games last year when had 229 yards.

Spann Scoring
NIU senior tailback Chad Spann scored his sixth touchdown of the season (all rushing) and the 34th touchdown of his career (33 rushing, 1 receiving) Saturday to close out the Huskies' scoring versus Temple. Spann has scored at least one touchdown in each of NIU's last five games; the only game this year he did not reach the end zone was at Iowa State. Over the last two years, he has scored in 15 of the Huskies' 19 games. Spann took over sole possession of fourth place on the NIU career charts for rushing touchdowns and total scores.

C-Spann Watching
With exactly 100 yards on 24 carries Saturday versus Temple, Chad Spann recorded the seventh 100-yard rushing game of his career and his third 100-yard day this season. Spann continues to lead the Mid-American Conference, and ranks 19th nationally, in rushing with 107 yards per game. One of 49 candidates for the 2010 Doak Walker Award, he enters the Buffalo game with 2,170 yards on 384 career carries to rank 12th all-time in rushing at NIU.

Career Night
Spann enjoyed a career night at Minnesota as he gained 223 yards on just 15 carries with a pair of rushing touchdowns, one on a game-clinching 61-yard run in the fourth quarter. For the game, Spann averaged 14.9 yards per carry while posting the first 200-yard game by a Huskie player since Garrett Wolfe ran for 203 yards versus Central Michigan in 2006. A preseason All-MAC pick and first-team all-league back a year ago, Spann set up NIU's first touchdown versus Minnesota with a 56-yard run and added a 33-yard jaunt in the second period.

National Honor
On the heels of his 223-yard outburst versus Minnesota, Chad Spann was named the Walter Camp Football Bowl Subdivision Offensive Player of the Week as well as the MAC West Offensive Player of the Week. He became the first Huskie to earn the Walter Camp national recognition since Garrett Wolfe was the National Offensive Player of the Week following the Ball State game in 2006, while the MAC honor was the third of Spann's career. He was also the MAC West weekly offensive winner following the Akron and Eastern Michigan games last year.

It's Better to Receive
The Huskies' top four receivers - Martel Moore, Landon Cox, Willie Clark and Nathan Palmer - have put on a pass-catching clinic over the last two games. The mostly veteran quartet (Cox is a senior, Clark and Palmer are juniors and Moore is a sophomore) has combined to catch 61 of NIU's 96 completions (63 percent) and have scored eight of the Huskies' nine receiving touchdowns with two each. Moore leads the way with 20 catches, Clark and Cox have both surpassed the 200-yard mark in receiving yards (206 and 203, respectively) while Palmer has the longest catch (58 yards) of the year. Versus Temple, Clark had career highs for both catches (five) and yards (62) while Palmer caught four passes to tie his career high.

Kicking It
After spending the 2006 through 2009 seasons on the roster at the University of Illinois where he earned a letter as the Illini kick-off man in 2007, Michael Cklamovski scored the first points of his collegiate career AGAINST Illinois and has now made seven straight field goals. Cklamovski, who is called "The Lawyer" by his Northern Illinois teammates due to his status as a student in the NIU law school, hit a pair of field goal attempts and made all four of his extra point tries at Minnesota. He followed that with three field goals - the first three NIU scores of the game - and five PATs at Akron, then hit his lone field goal try and went four-of-four on PATs versus Temple. "Big Mike" also has been effective on kickoffs, averaging 66.6 yards on kickoffs with 12 of his 35 kickoff attempts going for touchbacks.

Successful Conversions
For the second week in a row, the Northern Illinois offense put together some impressive third-down conversion numbers and the Huskies now rank ninth in the nation in third down conversion percentage with a 52.44 mark. In the last 10 seasons, Northern Illinois' best third down conversion percentage for a season is 43.3 in 2008. The Huskies nearly matched that mark last year with a 43.2 mark. NIU has converted over 50 percent of its third down tries in four of the season's six games, topped by a 71.4 conversion percentage (10-of-14) versus Akron. Since 2000, the Huskies have only had one season when it had a conversion percentage of better than 50 percent in more than four games.

Team D
Northern Illinois has used a total team effort on defense to win four of its first six games in 2010. No Huskies are ranked in the Top 20 in tackles in the Mid-American Conference, and there are not any NIU names in the league's top 10 for quarterback sacks, tackles for loss, interceptions, passes defended or fumbles forced or received. NIU's habit of rotating defensive players keeps the Northern Illinois defenders fresh and spreads the stats around. Currently, 16 Huskie defenders have at least 10 tackles, 20 have been in on a tackle for loss and 10 have sacks. With Chris Smith's first career pick-off at Temple, seven different players have interceptions. The Huskies' starting linebacking trio of Alex Kube, Devon Butler and Tyrone Clark lead NIU in tackles with 41, 38 and 36, respectively, while Jake Coffman has four tackles for loss and two quarterback sacks to lead the team in that category. Even without one dominant defender, Northern Illinois ranks in the top five as a team in scoring defense (second), rushing defense (fourth), total defense (fifth) and pass efficiency defense (third).

Some Love for the Line
With three new starters in 2010, the Huskie offensive line was a question mark coming into the season, but Matt Limegrover's charges have stood up to the test so far. NIU is tied for the MAC lead in fewest sacks allowed, having given up seven in six games so far for an average of 1.17 per game, while also powering the top rushing offense in the league. Northern Illinois backs have five 100-plus yard efforts so far while running behind the quintet of tackles Trevor Olson and Keith Otis, guards Logan Pegram and Joe Pawlak and center Scott Wedige. Otis, Pegram and Wedige are all first-time starters in 2010 while Olson has started all 32 games of his Huskie career.

Team Effort
The efforts of the running backs, receivers and quarterback Chandler Harnish behind the developing Huskie offensive line has returned Northern Illinois to a familiar place in the MAC stats as the Huskies rank first in the league and 12th in the country in rushing offense. NIU is averaging 236.2 rushing yards per game, more than 46 yards more than the No. 2 team (Ball State). NIU has five 100-plus yard rushing games on the season with three by Spann and two by Harnish.

Counting 'Em Up
Northern Illinois' 50 points at Akron tied for the fourth-highest point total by NIU in a Mid-American Conference game, and the Huskies' 36-point victory margin is tied for the fourth-largest winning margin by Northern Illinois in a MAC game. The Huskies' 23 points in the second quarter of that game ranks eighth-highest all-time by NIU in a league contest and is the most points Northern Illinois has scored in a single quarter versus a MAC opponent since 2004.

Totally Offensive
The Huskie offense racked up a season-high 520 yards on 69 plays versus Akron, the 16th-highest single game output in school history. Prior to that game, NIU had hit the 500-yard mark in total offense just 25 times in its recorded history, most recently last year versus Eastern Michigan. Northern Illinois averaged 7.5 yards per play in the Akron game.

Unstoppable
The Northern Illinois offense certainly fit that description at Akron as the NIU offense scored on EIGHT straight possessions (in which it ran a play) in the game and did not punt until less than seven minutes remained in the game. The Huskies' first three drives each resulted in Michael Cklamovski field goals, while the next five ended in the end zone. The possessions do not include the muffed punt by Tommy Davis in the first quarter, as the Huskies did not run an offensive play following the Akron recovery, while one of Northern Illinois' scores in the game came on a defensive play when Devon Butler returned an interception 26 yards for a touchdown.

A-Ward Winning
Northern Illinois freshman defensive back Jimmie Ward was named the MAC West Specialist of the Week after blocking a punt late in the first half versus Minnesota and adding three solo tackles on kickoff coverage. With 1:22 to play in the first half, Ward broke through to block Dan Orseske's punt. Three plays later, Northern Illinois scored to take a 20-13 lead; the Huskies would not trail again.

Block Party
Ward's punt block was the first of the season for Northern Illinois and the first of Ward's career, but blocking punts has become commonplace for the Huskies under Jerry Kill. NIU has blocked seven punts in three seasons under Kill, although Ward's block was the first for the Huskies since the 2009 Idaho game. Seven different players have blocked punts for NIU under Kill.

The Butler Did It
Sophomore Devon Butler became the first Huskie defender to score this season when he picked off an Akron pass and returned it 26 yards for a touchdown to give Northern Illinois a 29-7 lead going into the halftime locker room. Butler's first career interception became the Huskies' first INT return touchdown since Patrick George scored an an 80-yard return at Central Michigan last year.

Hidden Gems
Jerry Kill has continued a long-time NIU tradition of turning non-scholarship players into contributors and even starters. Five Huskie starters - Chad Spann (TB), Joe Pawlak (OG), Jason Schepler (TE), Jake Coffman (DE) and Sean Progar (DE) - and 11 players on NIU's current depth chart originally came to Northern Illinois as walk-ons. Key contributors Willie Clark (WR), Connor Flahive (FB), Jack Marks (TE) and Rashaan Melvin (CB) are also former walk-ons as are specialists Michael Cklamovski (K) and Ryan Neir (P).

Debuts
The Huskies' victory at Akron enabled the Northern Illinois coaching staff to give several young Huskies their first playing time, or first extended playing time, of their collegiate careers. Redshirt freshmen Anthony Johnson (WR), Dominique Ware (CB) and Jordan Lynch (QB) took their first snaps in a Huskie game, senior Nick Groeniger caught his first career pass and linebacker Pat Schiller saw his first action of the year. Schiller suffered a knee injury late in spring practice and sat out while rehabilitating, but returned to action for the first time and made four tackles. Back-up players at linebacker, offensive line and in the secondary also achieved "firsts" from tackles (Mike Hellams) to interceptions (Ware).

Preseason Predictions
Northern Illinois has been a popular choice to win the MAC West Division by the pollsters this preseason as the Mid-American Conference Preseason Poll, USA Today, Athlon, Sporting News, CBS Sports.com, and Sports Illustrated, among others, have tabbed the Huskies as the MAC West favorites. The last time NIU was picked to win the West was in 2006 during Garrett Wolfe's senior season. The Huskies were also named as one of the top 50 teams in the country by Sporting News and Phil Steele's Magazine.

Non-Conference Review
NIU wrapped up its 2010 non-conference schedule in September as the Huskies started the season with four straight non-conference games for the second straight year. Northern Illinois finished its non-league slate with a 2-2 record for the second straight season. Under Jerry Kill, NIU is 5-7 in non-conference games over the least three years, with three of the losses by four points or less.