It seems only fitting that the veteran Huskies ignited the “Doghouse” Saturday in their final home appearance.
From Mike Strasser’s opening touchdown to John Ivanic’s last extra-point at Huskie Stadium, the NIU seniors paved the 49-7 ‘rout’ for a fond farewell to the 15,987 fans in attendance.
Strasser began the senior dominated game with a 3-yard jaunt into the endzone to give NIU the 7-0 advantage.
Eight minutes later, the Huskies’ Stacey Robinson hooked up with tight end Claude Royster for a 46-yard score on a short-yardage play-fake that left the Murray State defense picking up their jocks.
“One of the turning points in the ball game is the fourth-and-one call,” MSU coach Mike Mahoney said. “They boot and Stacey comes out in the corner and hits the big tight end. All of a sudden Royster’s running down the field all by himself.”
The play was the exact same call that the Huskies coaching staff made in 1988 in an identical situation against the University of Minnesota.
“It’s one of the best short yardage misdirection plays that we run,” NIU coach Jerry Pettibone said. “It was a great call. (Offensive Coordinator) Mike Summers made the call and our offense did an excellent job of executing the play.”
Robinson scampered five yards and 12 yards for the Huskies third and fifth touchdowns on the day. The “Wishbone Wizard” finished the game with 166 yards on the ground and 4-8 passing for 61 yards. That rushing total pushed the Heisman candidate over the 1,000 yard mark for the season for the second consecutive year. Yet, the senior wasn’t thrilled with his performance after stepping out of bounds on two occasions, negating larger gains.
“I messed up a lot of plays today,” Robinson said. “It was hard to get up for this game—lack of concentration, I guess is what it was.”
It took four years, but reserve fullback Chris Montgomery notched the first touchdown of his Huskie career on a 1-yard run increasing NIU’s advantage to 41-0. Ivanic followed with the extra-point, his fifth out of six on the day. The senior place-kicker leaves Huskie Stadium with 11 school records under his belt.
On the defensive side, Cary Caliendo made headlines in the Huskie Career-Best Book. The senior defensive end recorded his 48th career tackle for a loss, which constitutes a Huskie all-time best.
“Cary broke the school record for tackles for loss,” Pettibone said. “Which is another thing that we wanted to be able to accomplish today along the way, so I was pleased with the way everything happened.”
Cornerback Earl Upton and outside linebacker Paul Rogan, added to the misery of MSU‘s freshman quarterback Ronald Donaldson, by recording their fourth interceptions in as many years of anchoring the Huskie defense.
“I wanted, more than anything else, for our seniors to first of all win the game,” Pettibone said. “And after that, for it to be a memorable game for them. And I think that’s what happened today.”