Football knew it had what it took to come back from a 21-10 halftime deficit against the Western Michigan Broncos to seal its fifth-straight trip to the MAC Championship game.

The Huskies (10-2, 6-1 MAC) scored the game’s final 24 points, including 21 in the second half, to beat the Broncos (8-4, 6-2 MAC), 31-21, Friday at Waldo Stadium in Kalamazoo, Mich.

“Our plan was not flawed,” head coach Rod Carey said of what he told his team at halftime. “What was flawed was our execution. And sometimes you just have to go ahead and settle down and trust that you could get this done, and they did.”

The Broncos came firing out of the gate in the second half, eating up 7:53 of the clock and marching down to NIU’s 10-yard line. The Huskies stuffed the Broncos on a fourth-and-1 attempt that ignited the Huskie sideline and helped fuel an NIU comeback.

The Huskies marched down the field 90 yards in seven plays as redshirt senior tailback Akeem Daniels capped off the drive with a 21-yard touchdown run. The Huskies pulled within 21-17 with 5:07 left in the third quarter.

The Huskies’ defense stood tall in the second half after giving up 21 first-half points. In addition to the turnover on downs, they intercepted two passes, forced and recovered a fumble and made the Broncos punt twice.

In the win, sophomore linebacker Jamaal Payton, redshirt freshman safety Brandon Mayes, redshirt senior safety Dechane Durante and senior defensive end Jason Meehan recovered fumbles. Freshman cornerback Albert Smalls and Durante intercepted passes.

The Huskies turned the ball over twice on fumbles in the first quarter, but the six turnovers were simply too many for the Broncos to overcome.

“When you turn the ball over six times you’re not going to win many football games,” said Broncos head coach P.J. Fleck. “Whether I’m Rod Carey or whether I’m P.J. Fleck or whether I’m [Alabama head coach] Nick Saban in front of you, when you turn the ball over six times you’re not going to win many football games.”

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Drew Hare put the Huskies back on top for the first time since 7-3 when his 2-yard touchdown run pushed NIU ahead 24-21 with 11:37 to play. He added a 2-yard touchdown scamper with 0:46 remaining to close the door.

After the Huskies went up 7-0 on a 65-yard catch-and-run touchdown by sophomore wide receiver Aregeros Turner, the Broncos rattled off 21 points on a pair of field goals, a receiving touchdown by Corey Davis, a rushing touchdown by Jarvion Franklin (extra point missed) and a safety on NIU.

The Huskies’ run of 24 unanswered points had begun when freshman kicker Christian Hagan split the uprights from 40 yards out late in the second quarter to get NIU within 21-10. The response to fight back continued the rest of the game as the Huskies controlled the second half.

“They know how to win,” Fleck said. “There’s not one doubt that goes through their minds throughout the entire game that they’re not going to win. They’re going to win, and you could just see their calm and composure. I thought we were working to do that, but it just didn’t come natural yet. You could see their natural tendency is just to [think], ‘Yeah, we’re going to win.’”