NIU’s Homecoming game Saturday afternoon against Western Michigan at Huskie Stadium wasn’t artistic.

“There were a lot of mistakes out there,” WMU head football coach Al Molde said. “That’s my first thought. I just don’t think we were sharp.”

Though the Broncos turned the ball over four times, they were sharp enough to win 22-10.

The Huskies fumbled the ball away three times, but NIU head coach Charlie Sadler said dropped passes killed his club’s chance of winning.

“We obviously dropped more balls,” Sadler said. “We had several balls that were right in their hands. And we dropped more balls than we have in any other game this year. There were obviously times that those balls would have … helped us along in our efforts.

“When you have opportunities to give you a chance to go win the football game and then have missed opportunities, we’re not good enough to miss those opportunities. We need to take advantage of each and every one that we have.”

With NIU at its 46-yard line late in the first half, quarterback Rob Rugai, who was relieving injured starter Stacey McKinney, hit split end Larry Wynn for 41 yards.

Unfortunately for NIU, WMU free safety Tim Osborne slapped the ball out of Wynn’s hand. Cornerback Marc Donaldson recovered the fumble. At the point, the Huskies were down 15-3.

“That fumble really cost us,” Sadler said.

With NIU 11 yards from the end zone late in the third quarter, Rugai had the ball slapped out of his hands by linebacker Carl Lopez. The ball was recovered by safety Paul Davis. At the time, the Huskies were down 15-10.

For the day, Rugai was nine-of-15 for 138 yards. He also ran for a touchdown.

“I also cost us when I fumbled close to the goal line,” Rugai said. “So, I made the good plays, but I also made a couple of bad plays. They even out. And it’s a team game, anyways. So it’s hard to feel positive about it when you lose.”