Add the name Stacey Robinson to the Huskie record book, but don’t close it too quickly. The wishbone guru will make several new entries before his NIU career is over.

Robinson, nicknamed “Sauce,” ran for 228 yards against Western Illinois Saturday, passing the 209-yard quarterback rushing mark set by Marshall Taylor against Nevada-Las Vegas in 1987.

“Once we got to the perimeter,” Robinson said, “they ran to the halfback immediately and I knew right then what to do with the ball.”

Once we got to the perimeter,” Robinson said, “they ran to the halfback immediately and I knew right then what to do with the ball.”

What he did with the ball was put together runs of 37, 19 (touchdown), 13, 29, 34 (touchdown), and 38 yards en route to the biggest rushing game of his short Huskie career.

“He’s (Robinson) a nice player,” Western Illinois coach Bruce Craddock said. “He’s maybe not as shifty as (Marshall) Taylor was, but he has nice breakaway speed.”

After averaging 2.1 yards a carry in the first two games of the season (71 yards on 34 carries), Robinson has done an abrupt about-face. Last week against Kansas State, Robinson ran the ball 22 times for 168 yards, an average of 7.6 yards a carry. Against Western, he carried the ball 25 times for 228 yards, an average of 9.1 a carry.

“I thought Stacey did the best job that he has this year of really exploding on the corner,” NIU coach Jerry Pettibone said. “Stacey did a good job with the quick fake and then exploding downfield and accelerating.”

Robinson also completed eight of 16 passes for 88 yards, upping his season totals to 28-of-55 for 337 yards with only one interception.

The six-foot Robinson gives Pettibone some versatility that he didn’t have with his 5-foot-8 predecessor Marshall Taylor.

“Stacey allows you to attack the whole field because he’s tall and can drop back and throw the ball,” Pettibone said. “He can do everything that Marshall could do and he can also throw where Marshall couldn’t because of his height.”

Western concentrated more on stopping fullback Adam Dach, who last year ran the ball 27 times for 142 yards in NIU’s 16-6 victory.

“We haven’t had much success up the middle with the fullback,” Robinson said. “Last year Adam had a good game because they were keying on Marshall. Now if they (opponents) start keying in on myself, maybe we’ll see Adam on the perimeter.”

Dach gained 107 yards on 14 carries against Western on Saturday, marking the first time since November 28, 1987 that two Huskie rushers gained over 100 yards in the same game. In that game, Marshall Taylor and Rodney Taylor ran for 209 and 108 yards, respectively, against UNLV.

“Once we got to the perimeter they ran to the halfback immediately and I knew right then what to do with the ball.”

Stacey Robinson, quarterback