NIU football struggled in every phase of the game Tuesday night as the Huskies fell short against the Miami University RedHawks in a 20-9 loss at Fred C. Yager Stadium in Oxford, Ohio.
With the loss, NIU failed to earn their first claim of the Mallory Cup – the trophy in its rivalry game with Miami, who has now won the last four meetings between the rivals.
“They beat us. Hats off to them,” head coach Thomas Hammock said. “They had a great gameplan, they executed their gameplan, and we didn’t play well enough to win the game.”
Anemic offense
The offense struggled to move the ball most of the night as redshirt junior quarterback Ethan Hampton posted one of his worst performances of the season. Hampton completed a season-worst 40% of his passes for 70 yards and was sacked four times while committing two turnovers.
Hammock attributed Hampton’s struggles to the superiority of the RedHawks’ defensive front.
“They have a really good defensive line,” Hammock said. “They were really disruptive and caused a lot of problems for our offensive line.”
NIU’s highly touted running game didn’t have much success, either. With senior starting running back Antario Brown out for a second-straight week with the injury he suffered at Western Michigan University on Nov. 6, the Huskies once again relied on their running back committee of freshman Telly Johnson Jr., redshirt freshman Jaylen Poe and redshirt senior Gavin Williams.
Johnson scored NIU’s only touchdown of the night in the fourth quarter on a 2-yard run. He finished with a team-high 47 rushing yards as the Huskies totaled 128 yards on the ground.
“We didn’t do much,” Hammock said. “They did a good job adding an extra guy to the box, making it tough in the run game. We’ve got to figure out some answers of how we can push the ball down the field and loosen the box up.”
Sluggish start
NIU was stagnant from the game’s first snap as the Huskies punted on each of their first four possessions – combining for 43 yards on those drives. All the while, Miami sixth-year quarterback Brett Gabbert was peppering the defense with several completions of 10 yards or more.
After missing a 41-yard field goal on the game’s opening possession, the RedHawks drew first blood late in the first quarter. A defensive pass interference call in the end zone against NIU set up a 2-yard TD run by senior running back Dylan Downing.
The RedHawks tacked on a three with a field goal by redshirt junior kicker Dom Dzioban early in the second quarter to go up 10-0. Then on their next Miami drive, NIU redshirt freshman safety Santana Banner was ejected for targeting. The 15-yard penalty helped set up a 30-yard trick-play touchdown pass from RedHawks redshirt sophomore wide receiver Javon Tracy to junior wide receiver Jalen Virgil.
NIU attempted to respond with a drive that made it to midfield before Hampton was picked off across the middle by Miami redshirt junior defensive back Eli Blakey. Three plays later, the Huskies got the ball back off an interception by senior defensive back Jashon Prophete – his first career interception.
Prophete said his film study during the week prepared him to make the play in that situation.
“I saw him (Gabbert) do a signal, and I was ready for him to throw it to my receiver,” Prophete said. “Seen it, made a play, and I’m just thankful to get my first (interception).”
NIU capitalized with a 47-yard field goal by senior kicker Kanon Woodill to cut its deficit to two scores. By halftime, the visiting Huskies had just 81 yards of total offense, while the RedHawks had 250.
Senior tight end Grayson Barnes, who finished with two catches for 22 yards, said the team’s offensive struggles stemmed from Miami’s execution of its “vanilla defense.”
“They do what they do well, and it’s hard to get past that,” Barnes said.
Stepping up on defense
After the halftime break, NIU’s defense clamped down on the RedHawks, allowing 74 yards and four first downs in the second half. The Huskies sacked Gabbert four times in the final two frames – three in the third quarter.
NIU broke its goose egg on the board about four minutes into the fourth quarter with Johnson’s scoring run. The ensuing 2-point attempt failed when Williams dropped a wide-open pass in the end zone.
The defense forced another Miami punt midway through the fourth quarter, giving the Huskies a chance to tie the game with a TD drive. That opportunity never came, though. Hampton was strip-sacked in NIU territory as a RedHawk recovered the fumble at the Huskies’ 25. Miami put the game away with a 27-yard field goal to go up 20-9 with 2:25 left.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Josh Holst replaced Hampton for NIU’s final drive, moving the ball down to Miami’s 25-yard line. In a cruel twist of fate, Woodill’s 42-yard field goal to make the loss respectable was blocked, dropping the Huskies to 6-5 on the season.
With a mini-bye ahead before NIU closes out the regular season at home against Central Michigan University on Nov. 30, Hammock said the team will use the next week-and-a-half to look inward.
“We’re going to self-scout ourselves and look at things that we need to do better and try to put a great gameplan together to beat Central Michigan,” Hammock said.
