Michael Turner rushed for 163 yards and Josh Haldi threw for 261 to lead the NIU football team to a 40-9 win over host Buffalo on Saturday.

NIU (9-1 overall, 5-1 MAC) racked up 369 yards of total offense by halftime, while Buffalo (1-10, 1-6) managed 306 for the whole game.

“I thought we came out and played workmanlike, which is what I was hoping for,” NIU coach Joe Novak said. “We did what we needed to do today. I was hoping we could come up here and be sharp. We took advantage of turnovers, and that’s important. I was satisfied with our effort today.”

NIU played without returning All-MAC players Akil Grant and Travis Moore.

Grant missed his second straight game with a sprained left knee. Moore missed the game with a fracture in his left ankle, found Thursday by doctors. Moore expects an update on his status today.

Turner ran for 60 yards – his longest run of the year – on the game’s opening play to set up Haldi’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Shatone Powers at the 12:51 mark of the first half.

Buffalo scored on its next possession when Jared Patterson scored from 3 yards, capping a nine-play, 73-yard drive. NIU defensive end Quince Holman blocked the extra-point try.

NIU and Buffalo traded field goals before Turner scored on a 20-yard run with 10:32 remaining in the second quarter, giving NIU a 17-9 lead.

That would be the closest Buffalo would be to the Huskies for the rest of the game.

Turner scored his second consecutive touchdown on a 13-yard pass from Haldi, and Powers caught his second touchdown pass as NIU scored 14 points in the final 1:20 to give NIU a 31-9 halftime lead.

“Like Ohio, they made a concerted effort to stop the run,” Haldi said. “They put eight or nine guys in the box to stop Mike. That gave us some opportunities on the edge, and we were able to exploit that.”

Turner scored his third touchdown of the game from two yards out with 9:20 left in the quarter, and Steve Azar kicked a 37-yard field goal to close out the NIU scoring.

Many of the starters, including Turner and Haldi, saw limited action in the second half.

“We got to play a whole bunch of people,” Novak said, “which is good for morale and helps them get some experience.”

Haldi’s three touchdown passes in the second half give him 21 for the season, the most since Ron Christian had 23 during the 1965 season.

His 2,174 passing yards are the most by an NIU quarterback since College Football Hall of Famer George Bork threw for 3,077 in 1963. Haldi now is third on the school’s all-time passing list with 4,261 yards.

“Josh can still get better, but he’s been playing well,” Novak said. “He’s doing everything this team needs. He reads the blitz and checks into the right plays. He’s giving more to this team than his statistics indicate. Today we were able to get the running game going early and then they started focusing on Michael. That opened up the passing game for us, and Josh did a nice job.”