The defense of the NIU football squad, which struggled early in the season because of injuries and inexperience, has turned itself around with strong performances in the last three games

The Huskies have allowed their opponents only 25 points in those three games, including their first shutout in five years, while the offense has rolled up 157 points.

Much of the credit for the turnaround has been attributed to the work in practice of forcing opponent turnovers and holding their assignments.

“I think the majority of our success has to do with concentrating in practice on turnovers,” inside linebacker Steve Kurtz said. “Everyone knows their assignments and we haven’t had many missed tackles lately.”

“I think we’re blitzing more than we ever have,” tri-captain linebacker Paul Rogan said. “We’re all communicating well and that’s a major thing for a defense so that we don’t miss assignments. That’s how we’re coming up with turnovers.”

The defense has recovered seven fumbles and intercepted 12 passes in their eight games. Five of the fumble recoveries and six of the interceptions have come in the last three games.

The defensive line suffered a rash of injuries early in the year when both ends, Scott Van Bellinger and Cary Caliendo, went down with injuries, as did tackle Eric White. Defensive line coach Sheldon Herd was faced with a situation where he had to rotate several young players in the lineup. Now that everyone is healthy and playing, Herd has several players with game experience.

“We’ve acquired depth through the fact that we’ve gotten healthier again,” he said. “We’ve created some depth and there’s going to be some battling going on for starting positions.”

Secondary coach Gary Evans attributes his squad’s turnaround to several different factors.

“We’ve made some big improvement in our defensive personnel. We had some young kids playing early and they’ve gotten better,” he said. “We’ve also created more turnovers and anytime you get those kind of turnovers it creates momentum for your defense.”

Head coach Jerry Pettibone said that the results of the defensive work have been paying off since the 73-18 rout of Fresno State three weeks ago.

“I think the improvement on the defensive side of the ball has been a big part of our success,” he said. “Early in the year we had inexperienced players at defensive tackle and inside linebacker and at one of the cornerbacks. The more that those guys have played and improved in practice during the week, they’ve gotten better and better.

“Since then, our defense has done a tremendous job of creating opportunities for the offense with interceptions, forced fumbles and tackles for losses.”