There are always going to be games with their fair share of highlights and lowlights. NIU’s 28-10 loss to Indiana was no exception.

It seemed that for every good play or for every high point there was a corresponding bad point.

On the opening possession, the Huskie offense drove 72 yards on 15 plays. They had five first downs and ate up 6:07 during the drive. The farthest they would go, however, was the eight yard line where Brian Cotton fumbled and Indiana recovered.

Indiana fumbled on their first play which NIU recovered and converted into a quick seven points. Unfortunately, that would be all the points the good guys would score in the first half.

Otha Brooks was the player who scored the touchdown. He ran 12 yards through the Hoosier defense for the score. Brooks later went down with a broken collar bone in the fourth quarter.

NIU managed to hold the Big Red offense to 347 total yards after giving up 543 yards to Iowa State in game one. The surprising stat however is that the LeShon Johnson lead running attack was outrushed by Indiana’s 202 to 155 yards.

The “52 Defense” forced Indiana to punt seven times throughout the game. It’s not a big help though when the punt return team and Steve Rodgers return just five of them for a total of seven yards. Huskie punter Jamie Dobay received his share of the work, having to boot NIU out of trouble nine times.

Another sign of improvement on the defensive unit was their ability to hold the Hoosiers to just four third down conversions out of 12 attempts. IU’s defense returned the favor by allowing NIU to convert just four of 15 and all four came during NIU’s first possession of the game.

Indiana turned the ball over three times on fumbles. The Huskies converted two of them into points by scoring a touchdown and a field goal.

NIU turned the ball over four times. A Scott Crabtree fumble became a quick seven for IU when they returned it 46 yards for a touchdown. On the next possession Crabtree was intercepted with 2:11 left in the game and just 19 yards away from a second touchdown.

And while the Huskies came out with their second loss of the season, look for them to play outstanding at home against Arkansas State (0-2) this Saturday. Their first conference game of the season should be a real crowd pleaser.