Tough. That was the word Central Michigan running back Thomas Rawls used to describe his running style and the Chippewas’ offense as a whole Saturday.

The Central Michigan Chippewas (4-3, 2-1 MAC) upset the Huskies (4-2, 1-1 MAC), 34-17, Saturday at Huskie Stadium, spoiling NIU’s 108th Homecoming game. The loss ended the Huskies’ 28-game winning streak at Huskie Stadium and their 24-game winning streak in regular season MAC games.

“Only thing I do is show up and try to have a tremendous … week of practice and have a huge impact in the game; that’s just my role,” Rawls said. “… I’m just out there, and I’m tough, and this offensive line is tough, and our receivers are tough. And [we’re] just out there playing football, CMU football.”

Rawls got going early on and never let up, carrying the ball 40 times in the upset win. He pounded out 270 yards and two rushing touchdowns, which came in the first quarter. Rawls said he sensed the NIU defense starting to get frustrated “from the beginning of the game.”

“You know, [the defense] was chatting a lot,” Rawls said. “I kept my mouth quiet and just play[ed]. And then the offensive line, they was getting in their heads, too. They was punishing, too.

“… I mean, I don’t feel nothing right now, but I guarantee as soon as I lay down I’m going to feel every bit of” those 40 carries.

Rawls became the first player to gain 100-plus yards against the Huskies this season. As the game progressed, he became the first player since the 2009 season to rush for more than 200 yards against NIU. South Florida’s Mike Ford ran for 207 yards against the Huskies in the 2010 International Bowl Jan. 3, 2010.

Rawls posted eight runs of 10-plus yards, including four runs of 22-plus yards. His biggest rush came late in the third quarter for a gain of 46 yards.

Redshirt senior linebacker Michael Santacaterina said giving up 270 rushing yards on 40 carries is “extremely frustrating, very frustrating.”

“I thought they did good job up front. They have a big [offensive] line; they did a good job moving people, opening the holes,” Santacaterina said. “We didn’t do a good enough job with our assignments. We got out of position sometimes, missed a lot of tackles. So, credit goes to them, their running back.”

The NIU defense came in to Saturday’s game allowing an average of 107.6 rushing yards per game, which ranked first in the MAC and 19th in the NCAA. Rawls entered the contest averaging 142.5 rushing yards per game, posting nearly double his per-game average.

“Well, I give them a lot of credit. That back’s good, and I told you he was good,” Carey said. “I think that we had guys for the most part … where we were gapped out, and they were probably finishing blocks, [and] we weren’t getting off blocks.

“And then the times that we were there I think there were more times than not when he broke some tackles, and so, you give him credit for that. And I know that’s something we need to get better at: We need to finish on tackling and move our feet through the tackle.”