CHICAGO – Kareem Hunt scored with 1:15 left to give Toledo a 31-24 victory over Northern Illinois University on Wednesday night in the Huskie Chi-Town Showdown at Guaranteed Rate Field. Hunt's touchdown helped the Rockets overcome an 11-point second half deficit to defeat NIU for the first time since 2009.

Senior wide receiver Kenny Golladay (Chicago, Ill./St. Rita/North Dakota) caught a career-high 14 passes for 143 yards; sophomore quarterback Ryan Graham finished the night 24-of-43 passing for 221 yards and three touchdowns. Golladay became the first receiver in NIU history to post back-to-back 1,000-yard receiving seasons as his 2016 total now stands at 1,023 yards on 79 catches.

"Give them credit, they are a good football team," said NIU Head Coach Rod Carey.  "They made one more play than us.  Our kids played hard; we know it's going to be a four-quarter battle with Toledo every time.  We needed one more play and we didn't do it."  

NIU took a 21-10 lead on a 19-yard touchdown completion from Graham to junior Christian Blake (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla./Cardinal Gibbons), Graham's third touchdown pass of the night, with 6:09 to play in the third quarter.

Toledo answered right back with a seven-play, 76-yard drive that culminated in a 36-yard touchdown pass from Logan Woodside to Jon'Vea Johnson as the Rockets cut the NIU lead to four late in the third quarter. Woodside was 23-of-33 in the contest for 286 yards and three touchdowns; Johnson had six catches for 129 yards.

The Rockets took their first lead of the night on the first drive of the fourth quarter. Woodside connected with Michael Roberts for a five-yard score as Toledo took a 24-21 lead with 12:32 left in the fourth quarter.

NIU and Toledo traded punts before the Huskies tied the game on a 22-yard field goal by junior Christian Hagan (Omaha, Neb./Westside) with 4:31 left.

On the ensuing drive, Toledo went 71 yards in nine plays, capped by Hunt's one-yard touchdown that gave the Rockets a 31-24 lead. Two plays before the touchdown, Woodside connected with Johnson on a 39-yard completion down to the NIU six-yard line that setup the score.

"We only scored 10 points in the second half and that's not enough," Carey said.  "The defense battled hard, they missed some assignments, missed some tackles, and the offense needed to help keep them off the field with more drives in the second half."  

In the final minute, NIU moved to midfield before an interception sealed the victory for the Rockets.

NIU opened the scoring late in the first quarter as Graham connected with junior tight end Shane Wimann (Wisconsin Dells, Wis./Wisconsin Dells) from a yard out to give the Huskies a 7-0 lead. NIU moved down to the Toledo 16-yard line and appeared to take a 3-0 lead with a 33-yard Hagan field goal, but an offside penalty on Toledo gave the Huskies a first down. Two plays later, Graham found Wimann for his sixth touchdown of the year as NIU took the 7-0 lead.

Toledo answered with a 44-yard field goal from Jameson Vest on the first drive of the second quarter.

Graham threw for his second touchdown of the night as he found Golladay in the corner of the end zone from four yards out to give the Huskies a 14-3 lead with 7:41 to play in the second quarter, a lead the Huskies would take into halftime.  

On its first drive of the second half, Toledo cut the NIU lead to 14-10 as Woodside found Roberts for a 27-yard touchdown.

NIU answered right back with a 14-play, 75-yard drive, capped by Graham's third touchdown pass of the night, before Toledo scored 21 of the final 24 points in the contest.

The Huskies will return to the road next Wednesday, Nov. 16, when they travel to Eastern Michigan.

- NIU -