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GAME 6: Northern Illinois vs. Miami (Ohio)
October 7, 2008
Northern Illinois Football 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format
HUSKIE FACTS
REDHAWKS FACTS
NORTHERN ILLINOIS HEAD COACH Jerry Kill Kill, who led SIU to five straight appearances in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs, compiled a mark of 55-32 in seven seasons in Carbondale for a winning percentage of .632. He was named the 2007 Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year after leading the Salukis to a 12-2 record and the semifinals of the FCS playoffs. Kill was also honored as the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year following the 2004 season. His SIU teams won three straight Gateway (now Missouri Valley) Football Conference titles in 2004, 2005 and 2006 and were ranked in the 20 for 64 straight weeks beginning in 2003. At Southern Illinois, Kill coached five first-team All-Americans and four Walter Payton Award finalists; four of his former players are currently on NFL rosters, led by N.Y. Giants tailback Brandon Jacobs and Ravens linebacker Bart Scott. Prior to going to SIU, Kill spent two seasons as head coach at Emporia State in his home state of Kansas. In his first collegiate head coaching job, at Saginaw Valley State from 1994-98, he won 38 games and a 9-2 record in each of his last two seasons there. A native of Cheney, Kansas, Kill began his career at Pittsburg State, a powerhouse program in NAIA and then Division II. He was the offensive coordinator for the 1991 PSU team that won the NCAA title while the 1992 Gorillas earned a runner-up finish with a 14-1 mark.
HUSKIE NEWS & NOTES Kill-er Credentials: The 20th head coach in Northern Illinois history, Jerry Kill arrived at NIU in December 2007 after seven seasons at Southern Illinois, where he led SIU to five straight appearances in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs. Southern Illinois advanced to the FCS semifinals in 2007 and the Salukis were ranked in the Top 20 for 64 straight weeks during his tenure. Kill owns a head coaching record of 106-60 (.639) in 15 seasons as the head coach at NIU, SIU, Emporia State and Saginaw Valley State. He was 55-32 at Southern Illinois and won the 2007 Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award. A Look Back: Northern Illinois battled Tennessee to the final play before dropping a 13-9 decision to the Volunteers in Knoxville in the first meeting between the teams. The Huskie defense limited the Vols' to nine first downs and a 3-of-13 third down conversion rate, but could not reach the end zone, instead relying on three field goals from kicker Mike Salerno. Larry English recorded 2.5 sacks for minus 26 yards to lead the NIU defensive effort. Home Field Advantage: In 42 seasons and 223 games, Northern Illinois is 128-93-2 all-time at Huskie Stadium for a winning percentage of 57.8 percent. NIU has won 37 of its last 48 home contests (77.1 percent) and is 21-8 on Brigham Field since the beginning of the 2003 season. MAC Mark: NIU tries to even its all-time record in Mid-American Conference play this weekend as the Huskies enter the contest with a mark of 83-84-2 all-time in MAC games. The Huskies have spent 20 total seasons as a member of the league. Since beginning its second stint in the MAC in 1997, NIU is 48-39 (.552) versus conference teams. Welcome MAC: At home, Northern Illinois is 46-37-1 (.554) in MAC games all-time and has a 25-18 mark versus league foes at Huskie Stadium since rejoining the MAC in 1997. However, the Huskies were just 1-3 versus its league foes at home a year ago, its first losing campaign versus Mid-American Conference teams at home since 1998. In conference HOME openers, Northern is 6-5 since 1997 and 12-10 all-time and has dropped its last two home league openers. Series Summary: Northern Illinois and Miami have met 12 times since 1970, and the 2008 game is the sixth between the teams since NIU re-joined the MAC in 1997. Miami holds a 7-5 lead in the overall series and has won three of the five games played in DeKalb. However, NIU has won each of the last three meetings, including a 28-25 win in Oxford in 2006 and the last game in DeKalb, a 38-27 victory. The RedHawks won five straight over NIU between 1984 and 1998. The Last Time: In a Sunday night game in Oxford televised by ESPN, tailback Garrett Wolfe led the Huskies to a 28-25 win over the RedHawks. Wolfe rushed for 162 yards and two scores and NIU scored on a three-yard touchdown pass from Phil Horvath to Brandon Davis with 7:46 left in the game to claim the win. Wolfe recorded his 11th straight 100-yard rushing day and scored the two-point conversion to provide the final margin.
107 and Counting: In its 107th season of intercollegiate football, Northern Illinois owns an all-time record of 490-447-51 in 988 games for a winning percentage of .522. The Huskies played their first game in 1899 and moved into the "major college" ranks in 1969. Back-to-Back-to-Back: Northern Illinois will play three straight games at Huskie Stadium for the first time since September 9-26, 2006 when NIU took on Ohio, Buffalo and Indiana State. The Huskies have not played three consecutive Mid-American Conference games at home since 1997. Defensive Dominance: The Huskie defense, which features seven seniors in the starting line-up, has given up just one touchdown and an average of 5.3 points over the last three games, surrendering three points to Indiana State, shutting out Eastern Michigan and giving up just 13 points to Tennessee. Northern Illinois leads the MAC in rushing defense, scoring defense and total defense, and ranks second in pass efficiency defense. The Huskies rank 17th in the country in scoring defense and are 24th in total defense. NIU has never finished a season as the MAC leader in scoring or total defense and last led the league in rushing defense in 2002. Takeaway Totals: NIU forced and recovered a pair of fumbles in the Tennessee game to up its 2008 turnover number to 11 with five interceptions and six fumbles on the year. Less than halfway through the 2008 campaign, the Huskies already are within four turnovers of their 2007 total, when they picked off seven passes and recovered eight fumbles. A year ago, NIU's turnover margin of minus 1.42 ranked 117th in the country. Northern Illinois has won or tied the turnover battle in every game so far this season and has a margin of plus 0.80. The Huskies lead the MAC and rank 31st nationally in that category. Speaking English: Defensive end Larry English proved that he would be a force in any league with his performance versus the huge offensive linemen of Tennessee. English had a season-high 2.5 sacks for losses totaling 26 yards Saturday and Monday was named the MAC West Defensive Player of the Week. He made one of the biggest defensive plays of the game in the third quarter when he sacked UT QB Nick Stephens and forced a fumble that NIU recovered on the Tennessee nine-yard line. English upped his team-leading season sack total to 3.5, second in the MAC this year, and the senior from Aurora now has 27 career quarterback take-downs. That ranks second all-time at NIU, just four behind Cary Caliendo (1987-90), and eighth on the league charts. Block Party: Three different Northern Illinois players have blocked punts in 2008 after Patrick George got his hand on one of Tennessee's first half boots, forcing just a 10-yard effort. George joins receiver Willie Clark (Indiana State) and tailback Chad Spann (Minnesota) as Huskies who have blocked punts this season. The last time NIU blocked three punts in a season was in 2006, when Dustin Utschig (Temple), Greg Turner (Western Michigan) and Jarret Carter (TCU) all tallied blocks. Academic Accolades: Huskie offensive tackle Jon Brost picked up a couple of academic accolades last week. An electrical engineering major with a 3.6 grade point average, Brost was named a semifinalist for the Draddy Trophy, which goes to the senior who combines the best in academic and athletic accomplishment. The 15 finalists for the Draddy Trophy, which will be named Oct. 29, earn National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete honors and each receives an $18,000 post-graduate scholarship. Huskie quarterback Josh Haldi was an NFF Scholar-Athlete in 2004. Brost, a native of Maple Grove, Minn. also earned MAC Male Scholar-Athlete of the Week honors based on his and NIU's performance versus Eastern Michigan. He was selected by league faculty athletics representatives from a pool that included student-athletes from all fall sports teams in the MAC. He is the second Huskie football player to win the Scholar-Athlete of the Week honor this season, joining quarterback Chandler Harnish. Good Hands and Good Works: During his NIU career, Northern Illinois receiver Matt Simon has displayed both good hands and good works, making the senior a perfect choice for the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team announced last week. Members of the Good Works team are selected based on their commitment to community service, which Simon displayed in leading his teammates, and organizing their participation with outside groups like Hope Haven Homeless Shelter, the American Red Cross and the Special Olympics, as well as at on-campus events like the April 16 Virginia Tech Vigil at NIU. Simon, a Farmington, Minn. native who led Northern Illinois in receiving a year ago, was one of just 11 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) players selected to the 2008 Allstate Good Works Team. With CLASS: NIU defensive end Larry English, who was selected the Most Valuable Player (Vern Smith Award winner) in the Mid-American Conference by MAC coaches last year, was named one of 30 candidates for the 2008 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award for football. The honor goes to an NCAA FBS senior who has notable achievements in four areas of excellence: Classroom, Character, Community and Competition. English is also on the watch lists for the 2008 Bronko Nagurski (defensive player), Rotary Lombardi (down lineman) and Ted Hendricks (defensive end) awards. After leading the MAC in sacks a year ago, the Aurora, Ill. native became the eighth underclassmen, and the second defensive player ever (the first since Ray Bentley won the inaugural award in 1982), to be named the MAC MVP. On the Rise: Despite its inability to reach the end zone at Tennessee, Northern Illinois' scoring totals are on the rise in 2008, especially in the second half. A year ago, the Huskies managed just 72 second-half points, a total that the 2008 team has matched in only five games this year. Six players have scored 10 rushing TDs for Northern Illinois through the first five games and the 10 rushing TDs is only one less than the Huskies' scored all of last year. Catching On: Four Huskie quarterbacks have hit 15 different teammates with passes so far in 2008 as nine different wide receivers, three tight ends, a fullback and two tailbacks have caught passes. Northern Illinois has started six different wide receivers in 2008: seniors Marcus Perez, Greg Turner, Matt Simon and Britt Davis, sophomore Landon Cox and freshman Nathan Palmer. In addition, freshman Willie Clark, senior Evans Adonis and junior Marcus Lewis have caught passes. Turner grabbed a career best five passes versus Eastern Michigan while Perez made one of the biggest "defensive" plays of the game by breaking up a potential interception and instead forcing an incompletion. Cox had a career-best three catches for 36 yards at Tennessee, including a 17-yarder, while Clark's acrobatic 35-yard grab set up a Huskie field goal versus the Vols'. Tim Mc is Back: Huskie middle linebacker Tim McCarthy, who missed the last nine games of the 2007 season with a knee injury, is back in a familiar spot, leading the 2008 Huskies in tackles. McCarthy tied for the team lead in tackles at Tennessee with six, the third time this season he has led the team. He has made 29 stops on the season, ranks second on the team in tackles for loss with five and made his first interception of the season, and third of his career, to set up a Huskie touchdown at Eastern Michigan. Third and Good: A key to Northern Illinois' success on both offense and defense in 2008 has been the Huskies' proficiency on third down. Offensively, NIU has extended drives on third down 31 times in 67 tries so far this year for a third down conversion percentage of 46.3 percent. That ranks second in the MAC and 24th in the nation and is a far cry from the Huskies' 32 percent mark in 2007 (55 of 171). Conversely, the Huskie defense has been able to get off the field as they are holding opponents to a success rate of just 29.9 percent on third down. That number leads the league and ranks 17th nationally as opponents have converted 20 of 67 third-down tries. A Rookie Rocks: After registering the first 100-yard rushing game by an NIU tailback this year with 111 yards on 17 carries versus Eastern Michigan, Mississippi native and true freshman Me'co Brown leads Northern Illinois in rushing (225 yards on 48 carries), kickoff returns (19.5 yard average), punt returns (8.4 yard average) and all-purpose yards (106.8 yards/game). He compiled 108 all-purpose yards at Tennessee, including a season-best 29-yard kickoff return. Brown has accumulated yards rushing (225), receiving (13) and on punt (42) and kickoff returns (254) for a total of 534 all-purpose yards on the season. No Return: Andy Dittbenner has punted 18 times for a 41.6-yard average this season. Although a season-high four of his punts were returned at Tennessee, UT averaged just 5.5 yards per return with a zero and a one yard return factored into the total. NIU's net punting average of 39.89 yards ranks ninth in the country and leads the MAC. Dittbenner has forced opponents into six fair catches and dropped six punts inside the 20 yard line. With 186 career punts for 7,481 yards, Dittbenner ranks sixth on the Northern Illinois career charts for punts and punting yards while his career punting average of 40.2 yards per punt ranks fourth all-time. He was named the Mid-American Conference West Division Specialist of the Week following the Eastern Michigan game, when he punted four times for a 47.2-yard average with all four of his punts pinning EMU inside its own 20-yard line. He had a season-long punt of 54 yards in that game to go with boots of 45, 42 and 48 yards. Productive Position: With 628 rushing yards on 125 carries and six touchdowns, Northern Illinois is getting plenty of production from its tailback position. The fact that the production is coming from five different players has marked a major change from the Huskies' recent history, when NIU was dependent on one or possibly two tailbacks. Under Jerry Kill, Northern Illinois' five tailbacks - senior Montell Clanton, junior Justin Anderson, sophomores Ricky Crider and Chad Spann, and freshman Me'co Brown - have combined to average 5.0 yards per carry and 125.6 yards per game. Four of the five - Brown (225), Anderson (123), Clanton (111) and Spann (113) - have rushed for more than 100 yards on the season. Another Dimension: While the Huskie tailbacks have carried the bulk of the rushing load, freshman quarterback DeMarcus Grady has added another dimension to the NIU ground game as he currently ranks second on the team with 144 rushing yards on 31 carries. Grady, who saw his most extensive action of the season while playing nearly two and a half quarters versus Tennessee, is averaging 4.6 yards per carry. In just four games, the Michigan native is already the Huskies' most successful ground-gainer at quarter since NIU Hall of Famer Stacey Robinson, who led a more single-dimensioned Wishbone style attack in 1989-90. Grady has also completed 8-of-14 passes for 75 yards and a touchdown on the season with a career-long 35-yard toss at Tennessee. Senior-Laden: The term "senior-laden" certainly applies to the 2008 Huskies as NIU's senior class numbers 20 players. Northern Illinois features 10 seniors on offense, nine defensive seniors (seven of whom start) and punter Andy Dittbenner. A year ago, NIU had just nine seniors and only four of those played a significant role on the 2007 team. Oh So Close - Again: Northern Illinois' three 2008 losses have come by a total of just 11 points. The Huskies suffered a three-point loss to Western Michigan and fell by four points at both Minnesota and Tennessee. Eight of the Huskies' 13 losses over the last two seasons have come by a margin of seven points or less. A year ago, Northern Illinois suffered losses by seven, two, one, four and six points. Combined with this year's deficit, NIU has lost those eight games by an average of less than four points per game over the lasts two seasons. Three Game Stretch: Over the last three games, the NIU defense has played as well as it has during any stretch in the school's history as a major college program. In games versus Indiana State, Eastern Michigan and Tennessee, the Huskie defense is surrendering an average of 5.3 points per game, 13 first downs, 73 net rushing yards, 139.7 passing yards and 212.7 yards of total offense. Northern Illinois has forced eight total turnovers with three fumbles and five interceptions, while limiting opponents to a 27.9 percent conversion rate on third downs. Getting His Kicks: NIU rookie kicker Mike Salerno, a transfer from Winona State, kicked three field goals in four tries at Tennessee to account for all of the Huskies' scoring. Salerno has hit 9-of-11 threes and all 16 of his PAT tries to lead NIU in scoring with 43 points. His field goals include a 49-yard effort versus Minnesota that tied as the eighth longest field goal in NIU history. A junior from Orland Park, Ill., he has also been effective on kick offs with 30 for a 66.8-yard average as opponents are starting on the 23-yard line. He has eight touchbacks on kickoffs while NIU opponents have just two. Fun Facts & Figures
HUSKIE MULTIMEDIA
RADIO
ON LINE
WEEKLY TV The 30-minute highlight show airs on Comcast at 4 p.m. Thursdays in September and October. In Rockford, catch IHS at 10:30 a.m. Saturdays on myNetworkTV. Fans are also invited to the live taping of the show Mondays at 5:30 p.m. at Fatty's Pub and Grille, 1312 West Lincoln Highway in DeKalb.
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