Football | September 4

HUSKIE BITES

• The NIU Huskies welcome Utah, the first Pac-12 team to visit Huskie Stadium, for their 2018 season opener Saturday. 
• NIU is playing its 116th season overall, its 50th as a Football Bowl Subdivision program, and opens its 53rd season in Huskie Stadium. 
• A non-conference schedule ranked among the toughest in the country continues for NIU versus Utah, one week after falling to Iowa at Kinnik Stadium. Following its MAC opener at home next week versus Central Michigan, the Huskies travel to Florida State (Sept. 22) and visit the Beehive State for a match-up with BYU on Oct. 27.     
• Utah and NIU will play for the first time, and the Utes are just the second Pac-12 opponent in school history for the Huskies. NIU is 0-1 all-time against teams from the league with a 1996 loss at Oregon State.
• Junior defensive end Sutton Smith, who became just the second Consensus All-American in NIU history after leading the country in tackles for loss (29.5) and quarterback sacks (14.0) in 2017, added to his NIU Top 10 career totals with a sack (and TFL), as well as a forced fumble, at Iowa, despite facing two and three defenders most of the game.
• Sixteen players made their NIU debuts last week at Iowa, including starters Christopher Perez (LG), Leon Payne (WR) and Cole Tucker (WR). 
• Of the 10 Huskies listed on the depth chart at wide receiver and tight end this week, only two (seniors D.J. Brown and Jauan Wesley) had ever caught a pass in a game for NIU prior to last week.  
• NIU is one of just three teams from a "Group of 5" conference to play in nine bowl games in the last 10 seasons. The Huskies join Boise State and Navy with that distinction.
• One season after blocking four punts to rank fourth in the FBS in that category, NIU blocked Iowa's first punt of the season as wide receiver Jauan Wesley came up with his second career block to set the Huskies' offense up at the Iowa 23-yard line.    

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HUSKIE FOOTBALL FACTS
2017 Record/MAC Record/Finish: 8-5/6-2/T2nd West
Head Coach: Rod Carey
Record at NIU/Years: 44-25/Sixth
Career Record/Years: 44-25/Sixth
Alma Mater/Year: Indiana/1993
Basic Offense/Defense: Multiple/4-3
First Year of Football: 1899
All-Time Record: 579-489-51
Last Bowl Game: 2017 Quick Lane Bowl (Detroit)
Bowl Appearances (FBS): 12
MAC Championship Appearances, Last: 7, 2015
Letterwinners Returning/Lost: 54/28
Starters Returning: 17 (9 offense, 6 defense, 2 specialists)
Starters Lost: 9 (3 offense, 5 defense, 1 specialist)

NIU FACTS
Location: DeKalb, Illinois
Founded: 1895
Enrollment: 19,015
Affiliation: NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision
Conference: Mid-American (West Division)
Colors: Cardinal and Black
Nickname: Huskies
Stadium: Brigham Field at Huskie Stadium
    Surface/Capacity: FieldTurf /23,595
Acting President: Dr. Lisa Freeman
Assoc. VP/Athletic Director: Sean T. Frazier
    Alma Mater, Year: Alabama '92
Tickets: 815-753-PACK (7225) or NIUHuskies.com
 

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UTAH UTES
2017 Record/Pac-12 Record/Finish:  7-6/3-6 
Head Coach (Alma Mater/Year): Kyle Whittingham (Brigham Young/1982) 
Record at Utah /Years: 112-56/14th
Career Record/Years: 155-118/32
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah.
Enrollment: 32,760
Conference: Pac-12
Colors: Red and White
Stadium: Rice-Eccles Stadium    
    Surface/Capacity: Field Turf /45,807
President: Ruth V. Watkins
Athletic Director: Mark Harlan
Athletics Website: UtahUtes.com
Twitter: @Utah_Football
Ticket Information: 801-581-UTIX

2018 Utah Schedule & Results
 

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NIU-UTAH SERIES
First Meeting
 

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FOLLOW THE HUSKIES

TV: NIU-UTAH on ESPNEWS

• The NIU-Utah game is the second of at least six NIU games this season to be nationally televised on a broadcast network, and the first to air on an ESPN Network.
• In addition to ESPNews, watch the game on mobile devices via the ESPN App. 
• The ESPNews crew for the game includes are Bill Roth (play-by-play) and Mike Golic, Jr. (color analyst).

RADIO: Huskie Sports Network

• The Huskie Sports Radio Network broadcast for the game versus Utah begins at 6 p.m. CT, 30 minutes before kickoff. 
• The game will be carried on NIU network affiliates WLBK AM 1360/FM 98.9 (DeKalb), AM 560 The Answer (Chicago) and Sports Fan Radio AM 1330 (Rockford).
• Hear the broadcast online via NIUTube (subscription), and on mobile devices via TuneIn. Download the app for free and find the NIU Huskies channel. 
• Bill Baker begins his 39th season as the radio play-by-play "Voice of the Huskies." Color analyst Mark Lindo joins him for the 33rd season, while Andy Garcia is in his sixth season on the NIU sidelines. 

Inside Huskie Football Radio Show

• Fans are invited to attend the one-hour weekly show every Monday at Noon this season. The Labor Day show will take place at Rosati's Sports Pub DeKalb (930 Pappas Drive), while all of the remaining shows will be held at Fatty's Pub & Grille in DeKalb (1312 W. Lincoln Hwy). 
• Listen live with the TuneIn app; hear the show on Mondays at 7 p.m. on WLBK AM 1360/FM 98.9 in DeKalb, 8 p.m. Mondays on 560 AM The Answer in Chicago and Tuesdays at 7 p.m. on SportsFan Radio 1330 AM in Rockford.
• The weekly show features host Bill Baker, NIU Head Coach Rod Carey, Huskie players and special guests. 

"NIU Weekly" Radio Show

• The 30-minute show features interviews with football coach Rod Carey, other NIU head coaches and guests. 
• Airs Friday at 10 p.m. CT in Chicago on AM 560 The Answer, Saturday at 9 a.m. on WLBK AM 1360/FM 98.9 in DeKalb and on Sports Fan Radio 1330 in Rockford at 6:30 a.m. Also available on-demand on NIUTube (subscription).
• Andy Garcia and NIU Director of Athletics Sean T. Frazier host.

NIUTube (Huskie All-Access)

• See weekly and post-game press conferences, video features and Huskie Olympic sports.
• Hear all NIU live radio broadcasts, including football and basketball games and NIU radio shows.
• Purchase a daily, monthly or annual subscription.
• Go to NIUHuskies.com for rates and information.

Getting Social

• Twitter: @NIUAthletics, @NIUScores, @NIU_Football 
• Facebook: NIU Huskies, NIU Football
• Instagram: niuhuskies, niufootball
• YouTube: NIU Athletics
• See NIU Athletics' social media hub online for all the team and staff accounts.

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NEWS & NOTES

THIS WEEK'S GAME
FOR OPENERS: Since 1969, NIU is 27-21 in home openers at Huskie Stadium. The Huskies suffered a 23-20 setback to Boston College in last season's home opener. This is the second time in NIU history the Huskies will open with a team from an autonomous conference in back-to-back years. NIU defeated Wake Forest, 42-41, in overtime in the 2002 home opener and beat Maryland, 23-20, in overtime in the 2013 lid-lifter.

HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE: With a 65-20 record at home since 2003, NIU has raised its all-time record at Huskie Stadium to 173-103-2 for a .626 winning percentage. During that stretch, the Huskies have had 13 winning records at home and three undefeated seasons in DeKalb (2003, 2010 and 2013). 

FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING: Saturday's home opener is the first-ever meeting between NIU and Utah. NIU is looking for its first victory over a team from the "Beehive State." The Huskies are 0-2 versus teams from Utah of with both losses coming to Utah State (in 1995 and 2013). 

RARE ENCOUNTER: Utah is only the second Pac-12 team NIU has ever faced, and the first team from that conference to visit Huskie Stadium. The Huskies' only other contest versus a Pac-12 team was a Nov. 16, 1996 meeting in Corvallis won by Oregon State, 67-28.

RECAPPING LAST WEEK
NO SMALLS FEAT: NIU senior cornerback Albert Smalls recorded the Huskies' first interception of the season with a first quarter pickoff of Iowa's Nate Stanley. It was his first interception since Nov. 18, 2015 (vs. Western Michigan) and the fourth of his career.  Smalls missed most of the 2016 season with an injury and did not have an interception last year.

BLOCK PARTY: NIU recorded its first blocked punt of the year when Jauan Wesley got his hands on Iowa punter Colten Rastetter's initial punt of the game. It was the first punt block for the Huskies in a season opener since Courtney Stephen accomplished the feat against Army in 2011.  It was Wesley's second career punt block as the Huskie senior recorded one against Ball State (Nov. 9) last season. The Huskies had four punt blocks and two blocked field goals in 2017.

DEJA VU FOR WESLEY: In addition to his second career punt block, Wesley tallied his third career touchdown reception when quarterback Marcus Childers found him in the end zone in the fourth quarter against Iowa. It was the second time in his career Wesley has recorded a blocked punt and a touchdown reception in the same game. He had a 70-yard TD reception against Ball State last year. 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Sixteen Huskies made their debuts for NIU in the season opener at Iowa including, wide receivers Rodney Hall, Leon Payne, Dennis Robinson, and Cole Tucker; linebackers Jordan Cole, Cortez Hogans, Vinny Labus and Danny Walker; defensive ends Jawon Denton and Mike Kennedy; tailbacks Jaden Huff and Jordan Nettles; kicker Andrew Gantz, cornerback Jalen McKie, safety Dillon Thomas and offensive lineman Christopher Perez. Payne, Tucker and Perez earned their first career starts at NIU as well.

CAREY KERNELS
HUSKIE HEAD MAN RANKINGS: NIU head coach Rod Carey currently ranks fourth on NIU's all-time coaching list for wins with 44, he needs 20 to pass the next Huskie head man on the list, Joe Novak (1996-2007). George "Chick" Evans (1929-54) is NIU's all-time leader with 132 wins.

MOVING UP IN THE MAC: With 44 wins on his ledger; NIU head coach Rod Carey is four wins away from cracking the Mid-American Conference's Top 20 list for overall wins as Terry Hoeppner (Miami, 1999-2004) and Frank Lauterbur (Toledo, 1963-70) are tied at 20 with 48 career wins. Carey's winning percentage of .647 currently ranks 13th and he needs to get to .658 to move into the top 10.

HUSKIE HEADLINERS
SCHEDULING CHALLENGES: In addition to facing one of the toughest non-conference slates in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the Huskies will face seven bowl teams from last season. Iowa (Aug. 31), Utah (Sept. 8), Central Michigan (Sept. 15), Florida State (Sept. 22), Ohio (Oct. 13), Akron (Nov. 1), Toledo (Nov. 7) and Miami (Nov. 14) all made the postseason last year.

NIU vs. THE POWER FIVE: NIU fell to 15-70 versus teams that were in an autonomous conference (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC & Pac-12) at the time the Huskies played them following its 33-7 setback at Iowa last week. Of those 15 wins, nine have come in the last 15 years, beginning with NIU's 42-41 victory over Wake Forest on Aug. 29, 2002. The Huskies have played a team from one of those five conferences in 35 of the last 36 years. NIU did not play a team from an autonomous five conference in 2016.

MEET THE "NEW" GUYS: The NIU coaching staff features a trio of newcomers in defensive line coach Walter Stewart, safeties coach Tyler Yelk and running backs coach Jake Landry, who previously served as a graduate assistant at NIU. Dan Sabock adds full-time duties as the Huskies special teams coordinator and linebackers coach Jeff Knowles was promoted to defensive coordinator. 

SCHOOL TIES: NIU coordinators Mike Uremovich (offense) and Jeff Knowles (defense) went to high school together at Providence Catholic in New Lennox, Ill. The pair were members of the 1994 state championship team and graduated in 1995. This is the third coaching stop the two have had together. Knowles was an assistant on Uremovich's staff at St. Francis (Ill.) from 2008-11 before joining the N.C. State staff in 2014 where Uremovich was the offensive line coach.

ON THE OFFENSE
YOUTH IS SERVED: Entering 2018, only two players on the two-deep at wide receiver or tight end, senior wide receivers D.J. Brown and Jauan Wesley had ever caught a pass in a game for NIU. Last week at Iowa, Three newcomers, redshirt freshmen Cole Tucker and Rodney Hall and freshman Leon Payne each tallied their first career catches. With five receptions at Iowa, Brown has 56 catches, while Wesley's career-high four catches vs. the Hawkeyes gives him 14 catches as a Huskie.

ROLE REVERSAL: Wide receiver D.J. Brown completed his first career pass when he connected with Marcus Childers on NIU's first drive of the game at Iowa. It was the second career reception for Childers, who had a 10-yard catch from wide receiver Christian Blake at Toledo (Nov. 2) last year. The Huskie signal caller has two career receptions for 15 yards.

WORKING ON THE LINE: The Huskies return every player who started a game on its offensive line a year ago, led by Academic All-American tackle Max Scharping who has started a team-leading 40 consecutive games, every game of his NIU career. Scharping is a two-time All-MAC selection. NIU's returning offensive linemen have combined to make 115 starts over the last four seasons with seniors Scharping (40) and Luke Shively (25) and junior Jordan Steckler (25) leading the way. 

RUNNING TO WINS: Last season, NIU went 5-0 when running for more than 200 yards in a game and went 3-5 when they did not make the 200 mark. The Huskies have also won nine of their last 10 games when hitting that number.

DOGGED DEFENSE
SUTTON ON THE SACK: Sutton Smith, who led the nation in quarterback sacks last season with 14, recorded his first of the season with a second-quarter sack of Nate Stanley. Last season, the Huskies had 14 other defenders tally a sack, eight of whom return for NIU in 2018 – Drequan Brown, Josh Corcoran, Trayshon Foster, Antonio Jones-Davis, Weston Kramer, Ben LeRoy, Devin Webster and Quintin Wynne.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS: Smith moved up in the top 10 on NIU's all-time list for quarterback sacks and tackles for loss in a career with a sack and tackle for loss at Iowa. The Huskie junior has 16 career sacks, tying him for seventh, and 32.5 career tackles for loss, which ties him with Jake Coffman for ninth. Huskie great Larry English leads both categories with 31.5 sacks and 63 tackles for loss.

YOUTH & EXPERIENCE: Of the 11 defenders who started at Iowa, only one, cornerback Albert Smalls, has made more than 20 starts and amassed more than 100 tackles. Smalls, who started his 25th career game as a Huskie Saturday, also has the most games played on the NIU defense with 43. Defensive tackle Marcus Kelly, defensive end Matt Lorbeck and linebacker Antonio Jones-Davis each made their first career starts at NIU at Iowa.

SECONDARY TO NONE: Three of the five seniors playing on the Huskie defense reside in the NIU secondary in cornerbacks Albert Smalls, Jalen Embry and Tifonte Hunt. Both Smalls and Embry are starters, while Hunt is NIU's nickleback. Smalls tallied a first quarter interception, Embry made four tackles, while Hunt recorded three tackles, all solo stops. The only other seniors on the defensive two-deep are Devin Webster and Drequan Brown.

STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH PUGH: After missing the final nine games of the 2017 season, Kyle Pugh returned to start at middle linebacker for NIU at Iowa. The Huskie redshirt junior, who made 17 tackles and an interception versus Boston College in last year's season opener, led the team in tackles with nine stops, six solo.

ALL ABOUT THE TEAM
JUST FOR KICKS: Graduate transfer Andrew Gantz will handle the kicking duties for the Huskies this season. Gantz came to NIU after spending four years as a Cincinnati Bearcat. He made 39-of-50 field goals during his 29-game career at Cincinnati, including a career long 51-yarder and was twice named All-American Athletic Conference.

ALL-AMERICAN ATTENTION: In addition to being named to numerous preseason watch lists, NIU left tackle Max Scharping and defensive end Sutton Smith have also garnered preseason All-American honors. Last season, Smith became NIU's first consensus All-American since LeShon Johnson in 1993.

Sutton Smith - USA Today (2nd Team), Athlon (2nd Team), The Athletic (2nd Team), The Sporting News (2nd Team), Phil Steele (4th Team)
Max Scharping - USA Today (2nd Team), Athlon (4th Team)

SUNSHINE STATERS: The 2017 Huskie roster includes eight players from the state of Florida. Freshman Kewan Parker and graduate transfer Rod Alexander join six returning Florida Huskies – redshirt senior Albert Smalls, redshirt juniors Antonio Davis-Jones and Trequan Smith, junior Lance Deveaux and redshirt freshmen Jalen McKie and Dennis Robinson.  The eight – all from the southeast coast of the state – represent eight different Florida high schools. The Huskies travel to the "Sunshine State" Sept. 22 to take on Florida State.
 

Name	Class	Pos.	Hometown (High School)
Rod Alexander	Sr.-R	WR	Miramar, Fla. (Everglades)
Lance Deveaux, Jr.	So.	LB	Pompano Beach (St. Thomas Aquinas)
Antonio Jones-Davis	So.-R	LB	Vero Beach (Vero Beach)
Jalen McKie	Fr.	CB	Ft. Lauderdale (Waukegan, Ill.)
Kewan Parker	Fr.	LB	Miami, Fla. (Carol City)
Dennis Robinson	Fr.	WR	Hollywood (South Broward)
Albert Smalls	Jr.-R	CB	Miramar (Monsignor Pace)
Trequan Smith	So.-R	S	Boynton Beach (Boynton Beach)

DEGREES IN HAND: Seven players on the NIU roster are college graduates. Five have earned their degrees from NIU, while two came to DeKalb as graduate transfers. 
Rod Alexander   WR  Oranizational & Corporate Communications    St. Francis
Andrew Gantz    K    Sport Administration    Cincinnati
Ryan Graham    QB    Leadership and Management    NIU
Ty Harmston    TE    Biology    NIU
Max Scharping    LT    Kinesiology    NIU
Luke Shively    C    Chemistry-Biochemistry    NIU
Albert Smalls    CB    Kinesiology    NIU
Jaden Huff    LB    Finance     St. Cloud State

HONORING A LEGEND: NIU and Miami (Ohio) announced that the teams will now play for The Mallory Cup, in honor of the late Bill Mallory, who coached both teams to MAC Championships during a hall of fame career. Mallory is the only man to lead two league programs to MAC titles. The first Mallory Cup game will be November 14, 2018 at Huskie Stadium.      

POLLING THE MAC: NIU was picked to finish first in the MAC West Division in 2018 by both the MAC media and MAC Coaches. The Huskies edged out Toledo by one point in the Coaches Poll and by eight in the Media Poll. Ohio was picked to win the East in both polls. This is the first time in the five years the MAC has had a Media and Coaches Poll that the Huskies were picked to win the West in both polls. The coaches picked the Huskies as the top team in the division for the third time overall.

HUSKIES IN THE PROS: As of September 2, 2018, four Huskies are on active NFL rosters, two are on NFL practice squads, and three more are active in the Canadian Football League. Now in his sixth year in the league, Rashaan Melvin is the veteran of the NFL group, whle Courtney Stephen is in his sixth season in the CFL. 

National Football League     
Oakland Raiders  - Rashaan Melvin (CB)
New Orleans Saints - Tommylee Lewis (WR)
San Francisco 49ers -  Jimmie Ward (S)
Detroit Lions - Kenny Golladay (WR)
Green Bay Packers - Joel Bouagnon (RB) - PS
Minnesota Vikings - Chad Beebe (WR) - PS

Canadian Football League     
Calgary Stampeders - Juwan Brescacin (WR)
Hamilton Tiger-Cats - Courtney Stephen (S)
Toronto Argonauts - Ken Bishop (DT)