After two hours and 56 minutes, Saturday, a new generation of Huskie football emerged as NIU defeated Toledo 38-7.

“It’s a totally different era,” said NIU wide receiver Marcus Perez. “We’re just trying to build this program back to where it was.”

As the Huskies paraded into the locker room, NIU assistant coach P.J. Fleck saw NIU President John Peters at the North end zone. Reaching out, the former wide receiver embraced Peters and said, “You better watch out because I never beat them.”

Fleck, who played for the Huskies from 1999-01 and in 2003, never defeated the Rockets. In fact, the Huskies have only beat Toledo (2-5 overall, 1-2 MAC) four times in the last 25 years. The last time NIU diffused the Rockets in DeKalb was in 1989.

“Obviously, I have them all back down to earth now,” said Toledo head coach Tom Amstutz about his players after the loss. “We should have their attention.”

NIU (4-3, 3-1) grabbed Toledo’s attention on the first play of the game. On the opening kickoff, the Rockets lost starting cornerback Desmond Marrow who had to be carted off the field due to injury.

Amstutz said they lost one of their best defensive players.

NIU didn’t miss its chance.

“That’s the first thing I said, ‘Where can we find that corner that’s coming in?'” said NIU head coach Jerry Kill. “That’s part of coaching,”

Huskie quarterback Chandler Harnish was 3-for-3 for 23 yards in the opening drive. The quarterback, who made his first start since Sept. 6 against Western Michigan, finished the day 12-for-16 for 173 yards, and three touchdowns, two of which were to Perez.

However, the Huskies’ first of five touchdowns came on a 12-yard rush from tailback Chad Spann. The sophomore lead NIU with 82 rushing yards on 15 attempts and scored two touchdowns.

“I just went in there, and got hit a couple times,” Spann said about his first touchdown run. “[Toledo] just didn’t wrap up very well, so I just bounced to the outside and it was there.”

NIU led 21-0 going into halftime. Toledo however, on its first offensive series of the second half, moved the ball 77 yards, scoring their lone touchdown on a 21-yard rush by running back Morgan Williams.

The Huskies responded with a seven-play series of their own, which ended with a Mike Salerno 32-yard field goal.

“I was nervous when it was 21 to nothing,” Kill said. “A big play in that game was that field goal. We took the ball back and got a field goal and it took a little air out of them.”

Toledo’s faint spark was doused by the final quarter. All three Rockets fourth quarter offensive series ended in a turnover. The defensive effort improves NIU to the No. 17 defense in the nation, and the No. 13 scoring defense in the country.

“We just have to execute better,” said Rockets tight end John Allen. “Northern did a good job executing on defense. It was our job to execute on offense and we didn’t.”