After the Huskies season-opening loss to Iowa, head coach Joe Novak said he saw a lot of things his team needs to work on, but also saw some positives.

Novak admitted he may have gotten away from the run a little too early Saturday and noted that throwing the ball 42 times won’t result in a win. Next week against Southern Illinois, Novak plans on giving junior running back Justin Anderson more carries after primarily being thrown to out of the backfield on Saturday.

Also, freshman Chad Spann is expected to get at least a few carries after the coaching staff was reluctant to give him the ball against Iowa’s defense.

Injury update

Junior punter Andy Dittbenner is feeling better and isn’t having any more headaches after being knocked out of the game Saturday. Dittbenner was so shook up that he walked over to the Iowa sideline after being hit in the second quarter. It is still up in the air on whether or not he’ll be back for this week’s game.

With Dittbenner out, senior kicker Chris Nendick filled in at punter. In his first-ever punt, the Lou Groza Award candidate booted it 55 yards. Overall, Nendick averaged 43.4 yards in seven punts.

Also, the Naperville native made a 33-yard field goal in the second quarter, pushing his consecutive games scoring streak to 38. The field goal was the 46th of his career and moved him into a tie for second place on the all-time list at NIU.

Defensive holding

On the positive end was the bend-but-don’t-break play of the NIU defense. Iowa’s Damian Sims and Albert Young did combine for 254 yards on the day.

Despite being in NIU territory eight times, the NIU defense allowed only three scoring drives. Plus, the Hawkeyes were only 2-of-14 on third down conversions against the Huskies.

Raising the bar

Even though 80 percent of the sold-out crowd of 61,500 was dressed in Iowa yellow and black, Saturday’s contest was technically considered a home game for NIU. And because of the technicality, NIU’s “home game” set an NIU and MAC record for attendance.

The previous high in the MAC came on Oct. 27, 2001 for a Toledo home game against Navy in which 36,852 fans showed up. The high water mark for Huskie stadium came on Oct. 18, 2003 when 28,211 fans packed in for a showdown against Western Michigan.

Personal bests

Junior defensive tackle Craig Rusch has now made a tackle for a loss in 12 straight games. His streak began during the 2005 MAC Championship game. Despite throwing three interceptions in Saturday’s loss, junior quarterback Dan Nicholson set a new career high for completions, 26, and attempts, 42.

Six of those completions were to wide receiver Britt Davis. The junior caught his 100th career pass in the first quarter of the contest.

Sophomore linebacker John Tranchitella and junior cornerback Melvin Rice tied for team-high 10 tackles each, marking career-highs for both.