Bowling Green, Ohio – On a chilly, wet, overcast day in northwest Ohio, NIU saw its dreams of an undefeated football season come to an end.

NIU, going into the weekend as one of four remaining undefeated teams in Division-IA , lost 34-18 in front of 31,007 rain-soaked fans at Doyt Perry Stadium in Bowling Green.

“We got our butts beat,” NIU coach Joe Novak said. “We didn’t play well enough to win. We got outplayed. Tonight they were the better team.”

BGSU (7-1, 4-0 MAC) quarterback Josh Harris threw for a career-high 438 yards and ran for 89 more as he gained 527 total yards of offense, compared to 227 yards for the entire Huskies team.

Behind Harris, BGSU was able to convert 10 of 17 third downs and hold the ball 39:12.

“That was a great performance,” Novak said. “He’s a great player.”

The Huskies (7-1, 3-1 MAC) converted two of 11 third downs and held the ball for 20:48.

BGSU scored first in front of the second biggest crowd in the school’s history when P.J. Pope rushed up the middle from three yards out to give the home team a 7-0 lead – one it never would relinquish.

On NIU’s first possession, the Huskies tried a trick play.

Quarterback Josh Haldi threw a lateral pass to wide receiver P.J. Fleck. Fleck then turned and threw downfield to receiver Sam Hurd, but the pass was intercepted by Janssen Patton, for one of his three interceptions of the day.

It took BGSU only two Harris passes to put the Falcons up 14-0.

Harris hit Pope and James Hawkins for 46 and 31 yards respectively for the second score in three minutes.

The Huskies never recovered.

They were able to get three points on the board following a Randee Drew interception near the end of the first quarter.

Drew’s first of two interceptions came at the 50-yard line. He returned it to the BGSU 28-yard line.

NIU gained three yards on three plays and Steve Azar kicked a 41-yard field goal for the Huskies’ only points of the half.

BGSU added another Harris touchdown pass and a field goal to make the score 27-3 at the half.

The stats told the story of the first half.

Harris was 17-28 for 279 yards and two touchdowns. Four different BGSU receivers had three or more catches.

For the Huskies, running back Michael Turner had 13 carries for 48 yards.

Haldi was 3-8 for 23 yards.

NIU ran 28 plays for 62 yards, compared to the Falcons’ 49 plays and 370 yards.

“We didn’t execute today,” Haldi said. “[Bowling Green] did a real good job. We got whipped pretty good.”

On the first drive of the second half, NIU was able to work its way to the BGSU 30-yard line where it faced a third and three.

Novak elected not to run Turner, who had 30 yards on the drive, and tried a roll out pass.

Haldi was sacked for a 10-yard loss and NIU was out of field goal range.

NIU never threatened the rest of the game.

They were able to score only two touchdowns in the second half.

Haldi found Shatone Powers from 11 yards out and Fleck from 50 yards for the only NIU scoring.

Haldi finished 14-of-19 for 165 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Turner had his third game of the season where he did not reach 100 yards. The third leading rusher in the nation going into the week gained 87 yards on 18 carries.

“The better team won tonight,” Fleck said.