NIU did not pile it on Western Michigan during the second half of play like the Huskies did to their three previous opponents.

Instead, the Huskies (7-2 overall, 5-0 MAC) had to rally late to defeat the Broncos (3-5, 2-2), 28-21.

“That’s the way I thought it would go down, I really did,” WMU head coach Bill Cubit said. “I thought it would go down to the wire. Unfortunately, we didn’t take care of business in the last six minutes.”

Huskies’ quarterback Chandler Harnish threw up a 21-yard lob to Willie Clark where the redshirt junior leapt into the air and pulled it in for the deciding touchdown.

On the ensuing drive, Broncos’ quarterback Alex Carder had his offense set up within the red zone with little time to spare. On second and 10, NIU’s defense secured the win.

Huskies’ defensive back Demetrius Stone lit up Carder on a blind side blitz where the ball floated in the air and Jake Coffman intercepted to cement the victory.

“We brought a blitzer and we were able to hit the quarterback right before he threw the ball and the ball popped up,” NIU head coach Jerry Kill said. “We made a fantastic play and we also did a great job executing the play.”

NIU’s victory extends its win streak to six.

Going into the afternoon matchup, Kill was well aware that WMU was going to launch its passing game early. That’s exactly what the Broncos did, as Carder ended the game with 360 passing yards with all three of the Broncos’ touchdowns coming via his arm.

“Western’s quarterback is going to be a great player in this conference and he played tremendously the entire game,” Kill said.

WMU’s dangerous wide receiver tandem of Jordan White and Juan Nunez made their presence felt, each hauling in a touchdown reception.

For the most part, the Huskies were able to hold Nunez in check with only four catches for 44 yards.

White was a different story. The senior wideout set a career-high with 180 receiving yards and 14 receptions.

The Broncos had chances to either tie or take over the game during the second half, but the NIU defense held strong as Cubit elected to go for it on fourth down on back to back possessions.

Offensively, running back Chad Spann and Harnish both had strong outings for NIU.

Spann rushed for 146 yards with a touchdown while eclipsing the 1,000 yard rushing mark.

Harnish continued to play like the most efficient quarterback in the MAC with a pair of touchdown passes and helped the Huskies go 10 for 15 on third down.