TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Northern Illinois University Huskies overcame a rocky start to battle the Florida State Seminoles for four quarters before falling, 37-19, Saturday at Doak Campbell Stadium.
 
Marcus Childers threw for a season-best 215 yards on 20-of-41 passing, and scored on an 11-yard run in the fourth quarter, and the Huskie defense forced four turnovers while limiting FSU to 121 rushing yards.
  
The Huskies fell behind, 14-0, in the first quarter but battled back  to make it a 10-point game when D.J. Brown took a pass from Childers over the middle and outraced four FSU defenders to the end zone for a 66-yard touchdown to close the gap to 23-13 with 2:48 to play in the third quarter. It was the longest play from scrimmage of the year for the Huskies. NIU attempted a two-point conversion, but Jauan Wesley's scramble fell short.
 
"We're obviously disappointed with the outcome of the game," said NIU Head Coach Rod Carey.  "We got it to the fourth quarter and I think we had our opportunities at the end with a missed field goal and a missed two-point conversion.  We were in a fight, we kept on swinging but we didn't land enough punches.  You can't fault our effort."
 
NIU had a chance to close the gap even more after a Sutton Smith sack and forced fumble, recovered by Quintin Wynne, gave the Huskies the ball on the FSU 28 yard-line with 12:35 to play. Childers hit Wesley for a first down to the 17, and on third and nine from the 16, appeared to connect with Wesley in the end zone for a touchdown.  However, Wesley was ruled to have stepped out of bounds before the catch and Andrew Gantz missed a 33-yard field goal.
 
Two plays later, FSU quarterback Deondre Francois completed a deep ball to receiver Tamorrion Terry for 78 yards and a touchdown that made the score 30-13 with 10:13 to play. 
 
NIU narrowed the gap again later in the quarter after freshman linebacker Cortez Hogans intercepted Francois at the FSU 48 and returned it to the 37-yard line. Childers drove the Huskies for the score, taking it in himself from 11 yards for NIU's first rushing touchdown of the year.  With 8:01 on the clock, NIU was within 11 at 30-19 after a bad snap on the field goal.
 
The Huskies forced another punt, but could not move the ball on the ensuing possession and when FSU took over at the 28-yard line, they went on to score with 12 seconds left to make the final margin.
 
"We won the turnover battle 4-0 and when you do that, you should win the game," Carey said. "The offense didn't perform well enough all day. I think after the first two drives, the defense played very well.  Obviously the guys fought, but there aren't any moral victories.  They have good football players, we have good football players too, they made a couple more plays than we did in that fourth quarter."
 
D.J. Brown caught seven passes for a career high 117 yards to lead the NIU offense while freshman Cole Tucker grabbed a career best six passes.  Defensively, Lance Deveaux led NIU with 10 tackles and Antonio Jones-Davis and Mykelti Williams each tallied nine.  The Huskie defense combined for nine tackles for loss.  
 
With the loss, their third to a "Power 5" opponent, the Huskies fell to 1-3 on the year, while Florida State improved to 2-2.
 
Francois completed 23-of-31 passes for 352 yards and a pair of scores.  
 
In the third quarter, the teams exchanged punts for the first three possessions before Florida State extended its lead to 23-7 on Ricky Aguayo's 42-yard field goal.
 
The Huskies recorded their longest play of the season on their next possession to get back in the game.  Childers hit D.J. Brown across the middle and the speedy receiver NIU's two-point attempt was denied and the score stood at 23-13 with 2:48 to play in the third quarter.
 
NIU's defense forced a pair of fumbles in the first half – the first by Vinny Labus, stopped an FSU drive at the NIU 37-yard line and was recovered by the Huskies' Matt Lorbeck. After forcing the Seminoles to punt on their first drive of the second quarter, the NIU offense got it going with a pair of first downs to reach midfield before being forced to punt.  Matt Ference's punt pinned FSU at their four-yard line and on third and 19 from the 11 after a Deveaux sack, NIU's Trayshon Foster forced a fumble that was recovered on the FSU 23 by Antonio Jones-Davis.  On third and seven from the Florida State 20, Childers hit Jauan Wesley on a fade route in the corner of the end zone to cut FSU's lead in half, 14-7 with 6:01 left in the half.
 
FSU responded with a six-play drive to the NIU 25-yard line, where Ricky Aguayo made the first of his three field goals on the day, this from 42 yards, to push the Seminoles' lead to 17-7 at the 3:58 mark. Florida State would get a chance to add to their lead before halftime. They drove from their 41 to the NIU 13 before a bad snap forced them back to the NIU 33, where Aguayo's 50-yard field goal on the last play of the half was good.
 
Florida State jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter as they received the kickoff and marched 75 yards in 13 plays and 5:07 to record the first touchdown by a Huskie opponent in the first half of a game this year. The Seminoles were fortunate on a couple plays on the drive, first when Jalen Embry got his hands on a pass but couldn't haul it in for the interception, and then on the touchdown play when Francis' pass bounced off his intended receiver and right into the arms of Jacques Patrick, who brought it in for the score.
 
FSU also scored on its second possession, taking the ball eight plays in 70 yards and 2:55 to take a 14-0 lead. Cam Akers rushed around right end for the seven-yard score with 5:13 on the first quarter clock.
 
NIU resumes Mid-American Conference play next Saturday when the Huskies travel to Eastern Michigan. Kickoff is at 6 pm (CT) in Ypsilanti.
 
-- NIU --