Sept. 6, 2008

Recap |  Box Score

NORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOTBALL 2008

NIU at Western Michigan

September 6, 2008 – Kalamazoo, Mich.

NIU POST GAME NOTES

***Northern Illinois tailback Me’co Brown scored his first career touchdown on a 26-yard run on the Huskies’ first possession of the game.  The run was the longest of the season to date for NIU.

***NIU opened the game with a flea-flicker on the first offensive play of the game that resulted in a 45-yard completion to Matt Simon for his longest pass play of the season to date. Simon extended his streak of consecutive games with a reception to 19 on the play.

***The last time Northern Illinois scored on its first possession of the game was in the second-to-last game of the 2007 season versus Navy.

***Senior receiver Marcus Perez saw his first action of the season and capitalized with six catches for 77 yards, including a couple of acrobatic grabs. That’s Perez’s best performance since a six catch, 91 yard performance against Buffalo on September 16, 2006.

***Brown totaled 105 all-purpose yards on the day.

***Dan Nicholson threw the first interception of the year by a Huskie quarterback, and the first interception by an NIU signal caller in 49 throws this year.  

***Northern Illinois forced a pair of fumbles in the game.  The Huskies have forced three fumbles on the season after recovering just eight fumbles total a year ago.   

***Dan Nicholson recorded a career-long 24-yard rush in the third quarter.

***NIU senior wide receiver Greg Turner’s 16-yard touchdown reception was his third career score.

***Freshman receiver Nathan Palmer grabbed four receptions for 78 yards. Palmer now has seven catches and 248 yards on the season for an average of 35.4 yards-per-catch.

***Dan Nicholson passed for 239 yards in relief of injured starter Chandler Harnish. Those 239 yards were the most by Nicholson since a 275-yard performance against Kent State on November 10, 2007.

***Freshman quarterback DeMarcus Grady saw his first collegiate action and rushed for 43 yards, including a 3-yard touchdown scamper.

***NIU racked up 439 yards of total offense on the evening, its best output since a 510-yard performance against Kent State on November 10, 2007.

***The Huskies have scored in each of their last seven quarters played.

***NIU has completed a touchdown pass in each of its last six games, dating back to October 27, 2007 against Toledo.

***Senior defensive end Larry English totaled four solo tackles, including one tackle for loss. English now has 43 career TFL’s, tying him for third in school-history with Doug Bartlett.