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Northern Illinois 38, Toledo 7
Oct. 18, 2008
***Northern Illinois recorded its first win over Toledo at Huskie Stadium since 1989 as the Rockets had claimed six straight meetings between the teams in DeKalb. Overall, NIU beat the Rockets for just the second time in the last 15 meetings. The Huskies only other win (since 1989) came in 2005 at Toledo. The 31-point victory was NIU's second-largest ever over the Rockets, behind a 41-5 decision in 1987. ***NIU is 3-0 at home in 2008, the first time the Huskies have started a year 3-0 at home since 2005. ***The Huskies did not commit a turnover for the second straight game, the only two games this season that NIU has not had a turnover. ***Chad Spann became the first NIU back to score two rushing touchdowns in a game this season with runs of 12 and 2 yards in the first half. Spann recorded a career rushing day with 82 yards on 15 carries. ***Spann led a Huskie rushing attack which accounted for 220 yards on 45 carries to average 4.9 yards per carry. Northern Illinois is 4-0 this season when rushing for over 200 yards. ***Marcus Perez caught his first two touchdown passes of the season - on a 45-yard toss in the second quarter and a 15-yard grab in the third. Perez, a senior who entered the game as Northern Illinois' leading receiver, led NIU with three catches for 68 yards on the day and now has 18 grabs for 243 yards on the season. ***The Huskie defense gave up its first touchdown in two games when Toledo scored on a third quarter drive. Tennessee scored on a long pass in the third quarter of the game on Oct. 4 while Miami's lone TD last week came on a punt return. The Huskies went seven quarters without allowing a TD between the two touchdowns. ***Huskie quarterback Chandler Harnish took off on a season and career best 32-yard scamper in the third quarter to help set up Mike Salerno's 32-yard NIU field goal. He finished the game with a career best 60 rushing yards on eight carries.
***Harnish, making his third start of the season and first since the Western Michigan game on Sept. 6, completed 12-of-16 passes for 173 yards and a career best three TDs. The freshman now has five passing TDs this season. ***Larry English sacked UT quarterback Aaron Opelt for an eight-yard loss and forced his second fumble of the season in the fourth quarter. English has 4.5 sacks and eight tackles for loss on the year to up his career totals to 28 sacks (3 shy of the Huskie career record) and 55 tackles for loss (already holds NIU career mark). ***NIU defensive end Jake Coffman recovered two fumbles on the day, the first two fumble recoveries of his career for the 24-year old former Marine. -- NIU -- |
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