DeKALB – Looking to keep rolling after a much-needed home win, NIU football (3-2, 0-1 MAC) resumes Mid-American Conference play with its first road trip to Bowling Green State University (2-3, 1-0 MAC) since 2017.
NIU finished its non-conference schedule Saturday with a 34-20 win against the University of Massachusetts. The Huskies’ 3-1 record against non-league opponents marked their best finish in non-conference play since 2014.
While the triumph over UMass restored confidence to the program after back-to-back losses, head coach Thomas Hammock said there’s more work to be done in the details.
“We are still fighting to play clean football,” Hammock said. “When you look at the game, and you watch it over and over, the details of performance, we have to be so much better at.”
NIU rolled to victory last week behind a 367-yard rushing performance led by redshirt freshman running back Jaylen Poe and redshirt senior running back Gavin Williams. The two rushers combined for 223 yards and three touchdowns.
This week, NIU will be paired against Bowling Green backfield led by junior running back Terion Stewart – regarded as one of the MAC’s premier rushers alongside NIU senior running back Antario Brown.
POTENT PLAYMAKERS
Stewart, a second-team all-conference selection in 2023, enters Saturday as the league’s third-leading rusher, averaging an even 90 yards per game in the three games he’s played.
The Memphis, Tennessee, native also boasts a 52.9% avoided tackle rate for his career, according to TruMedia. Redshirt junior defensive end Jalonnie Williams said neutralizing an elusive back like Stewart starts and ends with bringing him to the ground quickly.
“We just need to make sure that we get him down,” Williams said. “He’s very good at making people miss and getting leaky yardage.”
Along with Stewart, the Huskies will also be tasked with slowing down one of the top pass-catchers in college football — junior tight end Harold Fannin Jr. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound receiver is second in the country in receptions per game (9.2) and third in receiving yards per game (135.2).
HELLO AGAIN
Come Saturday, the Huskies will be forced to fend off a talented Falcon defense, starting with two familiar faces that once helped NIU reach MAC championship glory in 2021.
Bowling Green senior safety CJ Brown – the Falcons’ leading tackler – spent four seasons at NIU (2020-23) and accumulated 206 tackles in his career before transferring in the offseason.
Meanwhile, defensive pass game coordinator Derrick Jackson is in his second year on Bowling Green’s staff after coordinating NIU’s defense for four seasons (2019-22).
In addition to game planning for the Falcon secondary, redshirt senior guard J.J. Lippe said the Huskies are focusing on protecting the football after committing a turnover for a third-straight week Saturday.
“We’ve been turning the ball over way too much,” Lippe said. “That’s not the standard in our program. The ball is the program … that’s very important to us right now.”
A win Saturday would grant Hammock his first win in Bowling Green as a coach or a player.
Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT Saturday at Doyt L. Perry Stadium in Bowling Green, Ohio. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+. Live statistics will be available on SIDEARM Sports.
