YPSILANTI, Mich. – Eastern Michigan led the Northern Illinois University Huskies by 17 points three times in the second half before turning back a late NIU rally to claim a 41-33 win in the season finale for both teams.
With the loss, NIU completed the shortened, six-game 2020 Mid-American Conference season with an 0-6 record while Eastern Michigan finished at 2-4.
Freshman
Harrison Waylee recorded his second straight 100-yard rushing game with 122 yards on 23 carries, and back-up quarterback
Dustin Fletcher provided a spark in the second half with 63 yards on 11 carries. Quarterback
Ross Bowers completed 22-of-37 passes for 221 yards with touchdown passes to
Tyrice Richie,
Messiah Travis and
Cole Tucker. Senior
Kyle Pugh led the Huskie defense with nine tackles, while freshman
Devonte O'Malley recorded a pair of tackles for loss, a quarterback sack and forced a fumble.
"Obviously the end result is disappointing," said NIU Head Coach
Thomas Hammock. "I appreciate the fight of our young men, they kept fighting for four quarters. We didn't make enough plays early in the game to keep it closer than what it was. For us, it's going to be a critical offseason."
NIU fell behind 41-24 with 10:14 to play on a one-yard touchdown run by Eastern Michigan quarterback Preston Hutchinson. After a Huskie punt, EMU got the ball on its 20, but lost 18 yards on a bad snap. Two plays later, NIU's
Michael Kennedy tackled Hutchinson in the end zone for a safety. With 3:20 to play, Eastern Michigan led 41-26.
NIU's
Trayvon Rudolph returned the free kick 36 yards to the NIU 48 and three Bowers completions – to
Daniel Crawford for 11 yards, Richie for 13 and
Trayvon Rudolph for 11 - along with a pass interference penalty on Eastern Michigan, put the Huskies on the EMU three-yard line. Bowers hit Tucker for the three-yard score and
John Richardson's PAT narrowed the lead to 41-33 with 2:16 to play.
Eastern Michigan recovered the onside kick attempt before the Huskie defense came up with a stop. The EMU punt was downed at the five-yard line with 1:00 to play. Bowers completed passes to Crawford, Travis and Richie to the NIU 46 before a penalty on the Huskies pushed NIU back and effectively ended the comeback attempt.
"It was just too little, too late," Hammock said. "We came out in the third quarter and had a good drive going. We converted on a short pass on third down, then fumbled and they picked it up and scored.
These kids fought to the end, they didn't give up and that's going to serve us well long term."
NIU received the second half kickoff and drove into EMU territory. Bowers completed a seven-yard third down pass for an apparent first down before the ball was stripped by Eastern Michigan's Kempton Shine and returned 61 yards for a touchdown by Mark Lee, Jr., giving EMU a 27-10 lead less than two minutes into the second half.
NIU responded with a 10-play, 76-yard drive to trim the lead back to 10.
Erin Collins scored on a nine-yard run after Fletcher picked up 28 yards to the Eastern Michigan eight-yard line. Fletcher gained 50 total yards on the ground on the drive as the Huskies narrowed the gap to 27-17.
EMU once again extended the lead, driving 75 yards in just seven plays to extend the lead once again. Darius Boone Jr. scored from 18 yards out to give EMU a 34-17 lead with 5:43 to play in the third quarter. The Huskies cut the deficit back to 10 as Bowers connected with Travis on an 18-yard pass play. The redshirt freshman tiptoed down the sideline for the score, completing a 10-play, 73-yard drive that took 6:04 off the clock.
Eastern Michigan took a 7-0 lead on a 14-yard pass from Hutchinson to Tanner Knue after a 10-play, 68-yard opening drive and extended the lead to 10-0 at 5:45 of the first quarter on a 39-yard field goal by Chad Ryland.
NIU broke through on the ensuing possession with Waylee's 19-yard run kick-starting a 43-yard, nine-play drive to the EMU 27-yard line. From there, Richardson's season-long 46-yard field goal was good as the Huskies pulled within seven, 10-3.
The Huskies tied the score just minutes later after Richardson's kickoff bounced off several EMU players and was recovered by NIU's
Jyran Mitchell at the Eastern Michigan 24-yard line. After a five-yard completion to Rudolph, Bowers hit Richie on a short swing pass and the receiver did the rest of the work, taking it 19 yards for the touchdown, his fourth consecutive game with a touchdown.
EMU came right back with a 10-play, 71-yard drive to take 17-10 lead. After picking up 56 of the 71 yards on the ground, Hutchinson hit Dylan Drummond for an eight-yard touchdown with 13:15 to play in the half.
The Huskies went three and out, but
Matt Ference's 60-yard punt forced EMU to start at its own nine-yard line. The Eagles picked up a quick first down before back-to-back sacks by freshmen
Jordan Hansen and
James Ester led to an EMU punt.
Bowers' fourth down pass to
Dennis Robinson was knocked down to end NIU's next possession and the Eagles took advantage of good field position and drove to the NIU three-yard line. From there, the Huskie defense stiffened, forcing Eastern Michigan to try a 24-yard Ryland field goal, which was good for a 20-10 EMU lead with 3:40 left in the half.
NIU forced another turnover before halftime with O'Malley's sack causing a fumble which Pugh recovered at the Huskie 25-yard line to stop an Eastern Michigan drive.
Despite the loss, Hammock was grateful for the season and the experience gained by the young team.
"I'm happy we had the opportunity to play," Hammock said. "I don't look at the record as the end result, you have to look at the process of where we're going, where we're headed.
"To me, a lot of guys got experience. We're going to have 11 starters back on defense, six will still be true freshmen. To me it's a launching point – we need to have a great offseason, get a lot stronger, a lot bigger and we look forward to attacking the offseason."
-- NIU --
