DeKALB — For two drives, NIU’s offense looked the one it had been selling all offseason — fast, efficient and potent.
The Huskies erupted with a 76-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage and followed it up with a 13-yard touchdown pass to take a 14-0 lead on the defending Mid-American Conference runner-up.
But as fast as that success came, it was gone.
NIU (1-4, 0-1 MAC) gave up 25 unanswered to Miami (2-3, 1-0 MAC) in a 25-14 loss on Saturday at Huskie Stadium, allowing the RedHawks to spoil NIU’s 118th Homecoming game and retain the Mallory Cup once again.
“(We) started well, had a good first quarter, and then, from there, we couldn’t put four quarters together,” head coach Thomas Hammock said. “(We’ve) got a lot to clean up; need to get better in a hurry, and that’s on me as the head coach.”
Freshmen at the helm
NIU’s offense featured two true freshmen making their first collegiate start. Quarterback Brady Davidson replaced incumbent starter Josh Holst after four games. Davidson went 13-of-28 passing for 106 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
(When) you play a true freshman quarterback, there’s going to be some growing pains,” Hammock said. “There’s some nice things out there; I think there’s some things he’s got to learn from.”
Meanwhile, running back Lazaro Rogers got the start in the backfield over Telly Johnson Jr. and Chavon Wright. Rogers finished 2 yards shy of triple digits with 98 yards, including the 76-yard run for his first career touchdown.
After Rogers’ explosive run, Davidson kept the momentum going with an 11-play, 60-yard touchdown drive. He began the series with a perfect 6-for-6 passing to bring NIU to Miami’s 36-yard line and capped it with his first career touchdown pass — a 17-yard completion to a wide-open Jake Appleget, the tight end’s second catch of the year.
“The biggest thing this week was ‘we’re going to take what they give us,’ and that was a big part of what that second drive was,” Davidson said. “They were just giving us a lot of space, and so we were just taking that.”
However, the offense’s early success soon fizzled out after that. The Huskies crossed midfield only twice the rest of the game and went 4-of-14 on third-down attempts. Davidson also committed two turnovers: a tipped pass that was intercepted on the first play of the second half and a strip-sack fumble on what would be NIU’s final play of the game.
RedHawks storm back
After NIU took a 14-0 lead, Miami responded with a seven-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. Dequan Finn connected on a 56-yard pass to Kam Perry, beating NIU’s Jacob Finley, to set up D’Shawntae Jones’ 1-yard rushing touchdown three plays later.
The RedHawks added a 41-yard field goal from Dom Dzioban late in the second quarter, cutting NIU’s lead down to four. They attempted another field goal just before halftime, but Dzioban’s 50-yard kick missed wide left, keeping the Huskies at a 14-10 halftime lead.
On NIU’s first offensive play after halftime, Davidson’s pass tipped up by Miami’s Silas Walters and intercepted by Koy Beasley at the NIU 28. Though the Huskies held the RedHawks to no gain, Dzioban drilled a 45-yard field goal to make it a 1-point game.
The Huskies lost the lead with a disastrous sequence on their next drive. After a false start, NIU gained just 2 yards on a rush before Davidson was strip-sacked, with right tackle Izuchukwu Ozoh recovering the ball for a 13-yard loss. A third-down pass to Telly Johnson Jr. went for no gain, setting up Danny Vuckovic’s blocked punt, which went out of the back of the end zone for a go-ahead safety for Miami.Add SNO Story Element > Generic Embed
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‘We got lazy’
That was one of the two times Vuckovic had a punt blocked in the game. Later in the game, Miami’s Brock Uihlein got a hand on a punt that — fortunately for NIU — still traveled 50 yards. Hammock said after the game that responsibility for those miscues falls on his punter.
“He’s got to get the snap off in a timely fashion,” Hammock said of Vuckovic. “You can only hold up so long. We’re making the calls; they’re blocking; he’s got to do his part, too.”
Following the safety and the ensuing free kick, Miami extended the lead with a 50-yard drive culminating in Finn’s 5-yard TD pass to Deion Colzie. Dzioban closed the scoring with a 24-yard field goal with 3:31 remaining.
Davidson’s eventual strip-sack on NIU’s next drive then allowed the RedHawks to run out the clock, leaving the Huskies with their first conference loss.
“I just think we got lazy,” linebacker Quinn Urwiler said. “I thought we started off pretty good. Towards the end of the game, I think it just got away from us.”
Urwiler led the defensive effort with 14 tackles — nine solo — and a sack. Though he’ll likely be the Football Bowl Subdivision’s leader in tackles by week’s end, the sixth-year senior said the feat wouldn’t carry much value to him.
“It don’t mean anything. I want to win,” Urwiler said. “I’d rather go zero tackles with a win than 14 and we lost.”
To be continued?
Saturday marked the final time NIU will face Miami before its departure for the Mountain West Conference next year, and the schools aren’t scheduled to play in the future. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean the Mallory Cup is gone forever.
NIU athletic director Sean Frazier told the Northern Star postgame that there’s interest from both sides in extending the rivalry into future seasons.
“We’d like to keep it going, because I want to get that trophy back,” Frazier said.
