Oct. 3, 2015
Recap |
Final Stats
***NIU has lost three consecutive games for the first time since the 2009 season, when the Huskies lost to Ohio (Nov. 21) and Central Michigan (Nov. 27) to close out the regular season and then fell to South Florida (Jan. 2) in the International Bowl in the season finale.
***NIU held Central Michigan to 93 rushing yards, the second opponent this season that has failed to top the 100-yard mark in rushing (Murray State, 9-12)
***Shawun Lurry picked off his fifth pass of the season in the first quarter. Lurry has four interceptions in the Huskies’ last three games, with at least one in each game. Lurry’s five INTs marks only the second time in the last 10 seasons that an NIU player had more than four interceptions in a season (Jimmie Ward, 2013 - 7).
***Joel Bouagnon scored his seventh and eighth rushing touchdowns of the season, on a one-yard plunge in the first quarter and a three-yard score in the fourth period. It was his third multi-touchdown game of the season.
***Joel Bouagnon went over the 100-yard mark in rushing for the second time this season, and the second time in his career, with 104 yards on 26 carries.
***Chad Beebe had a career-long 40-yard punt return in the first quarter for NIU. Beebe’s previous long return was a 36-yard return at Northwestern a year ago.
***NIU lost its MAC opener for the first time since 2011, when NIU dropped a 48-41 decision at Central Michigan. The Huskies went on to win its next seven regular season games, the MAC West, the MAC Championship and the GoDaddy.com Bowl.
***NIU is now 24-27-1 versus CMU all-time. The Chippewas have handed the Huskies their last four MAC regular season losses – in 2009, 2011, 2014 and 2015. The Huskies are 3-4 against CMU over the last seven years. The last MAC team to beat NIU in the regular season other than Central Michigan was Ohio on Nov. 21, 2009.
***With its win Saturday, CMU snapped the Huskies 15-game MAC road winning streak. NIU had not lost on the road in the MAC since falling to the Chippewas in 2011.
***The Huskies’ four turnovers Saturday were the team’s most in 47 games, since the 2011 MAC Championship game versus Ohio (12-2). In that contest, NIU had three fumbles and one interception, but came back to win the game 23-20. The Huskies’ three fumbles Saturday were also the most since that Ohio game in 2011.
