MT. PLEASANT, Mich. – Central Michigan tailbacks Jonathan Ward and Kobe Lewis combined for 281 of CMU's 327 rushing yards and quarterback Quinten Dormady threw three touchdown passes as the Chippewas handed the Northern Illinois University Huskies a 48-10 loss Saturday at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.
 
NIU (3-6, 2-3 MAC) turned the ball over four times in the second half, while the Huskie defense forced just one CMU punt on the day.
 
"Give credit to Central Michigan, they went out there and they dominated us, it's as simple as that, and we're not going to make excuses," said NIU Head Coach Thomas Hammock.  "We've got to respond, we've got to come back and figure out what went wrong. I take full responsibility as the head coach. I thought we had good preparation, but we got out there and we didn't get it done."
 
CMU did most of its damage in the first 30 minutes as they took a 38-10 lead into the halftime locker room, amassing 400 yards of offense in the half while forcing six NIU punts. The Chippewas scored on each of their three first-quarter possessions, while the Huskies could manage only a 33-yard John Richardson field goal.
 
Central Michigan (6-4, 4-2 MAC) matched that on their first drive of the second quarter to take a 24-3 lead. NIU got into the end zone on its next drive with a nine-yard touchdown pass from Ross Bowers to Spencer Tears that came one play after Bowers connected with Cole Tucker on a 49-yard pass play. The PAT made it 24-10 Central Michigan with 10:48 left in the half.  
 
Dormady, who completed 18-of-24 passes for 288 yards on the day, hit tight end Tony Poljan from 39 yards out for a score and closed out the half with a 16-yard TD throw to Tyrone Scott.
 
The Chippewas' Ryan Tice missed three field goals in a scoreless third quarter while each of the Huskies' three third-quarter drives ended in interceptions.
 
CMU scored its final touchdown on Ward's three-yard run at the start of the final period as he finished the game with 138 yards on 20 carries while Lewis ran 17 times for 143 yards.  The Chippewas totaled 615 yards of total offense on the day.  
 
"I saw a talented [Central Michigan] team on tape with the two running backs and the wide receiver, I saw talent and I thought we would do a better job of containing them," Hammock said. "For us, when you get an opportunity, you have to finish the play. We didn't finish the play. We had guys in position. Whether that's making the catch or the tackle or the interception."
 
NIU managed just 22 rushing yards on 25 carries on the day and were held to one-of-12 on third down conversions. Bowers, who did not go through a full practice until Friday, completed 18-of-29 passes for 221 yards. Tucker caught three passes for 75 yards and running back Marcus Jones had four catches on the day. Mykelti Williams was one of three Huskies in double figures in tackles with 12, while Nick Rattin and Vinny Labus each had 10 stops.   
 
The Huskies will next play on Wednesday, November 13 when they take on Toledo in their final road game of the season.  NIU plays its final two games of the year in Huskie Stadium versus Eastern Michigan (Tuesday, Nov. 19) and Western Michigan (Tuesday, Nov. 26).
 
-- NIU --