It was a tale of two halves.

With both teams coming in needing a win, it came down to who had the better half of football.

And unfortunately for Miami, NIU’s 28-point first half was enough to hold on to a 38-27 victory.

“We dug ourselves into too big a hole against too good a team,” said Miami coach Shane Montgomery. “It just came down to [NIU] making more big plays.”

Those big plays came in many forms for the Huskie offense.

Coming off his lowest rushing output of the season, running back Garrett Wolfe nearly eclipsed the 200-yard mark. The junior’s 197 yards and two touchdowns helped key a balanced attack, but it was his effort in the fourth quarter that brought home the victory.

Wolfe ate up 7-plus minutes in the fourth quarter that set up a Chris Nendick field goal to solidify the victory.

“We had our chances to make a stop,” said Montgomery. “We just didn’t make them. Especially on that drive.”

As for the passing game, quarterback Phil Horvath didn’t throw an incompletion until the third quarter, and receiver Sam Hurd’s 223 yards was 11-yards short of the all-time NIU receiving record for a single game.

“I’ve never seen this team throwing the ball so well,” said NIU coach Joe Novak.

Horvath seconded his coaches opinion saying how confident he is in the whole offense. This game marked the fourth game in a row that NIU tallied more than 500 yards of total offense.

The win not only erased the memories of Akron, but it also kept alive NIU’s hope for a MAC championship.

Despite not liking the term ‘must win,’ Novak acknowledged the importance of the win.

“It wasn’t a must win but it was a big one to win,” Novak said. “And hopefully this will catapult us into the rest of the season.”