When the Huskies took the field Thursday, P.J. Fleck was a day shy of the one year anniversary of his last reception.

In that game, Fleck caught three balls for 29 yards as NIU upset Wake Forest 42-41 in overtime.

In his first game back since sitting out most of last season with a hamstring injury, Fleck made an immediate impact, grabbing a career-high 13 receptions for 116 yards and one touchdown in a 20-13 upset of No.-13 ranked Maryland.

“This is an incredible feeling,” Fleck said. “We expected to win and we did. This team is different from any I’ve ever been on. We just want to win.”

Fleck seemed to be the missing link in a passing game that was average at best last season. NIU ranked 11th in the MAC in passing offense last year.

While last year’s team was able to throw downfield with regularity, their intermediate and short games struggled, Novak said.

Fleck set out to change that, catching three passes on the first drive of the game.

“My job is to catch the third down ball,” Fleck said. “They were giving us the middle and it was open [Thursday].”

While Fleck did most of his work over the middle, it was a catch near the sideline and one in the back of the end zone that gave NIU its first touchdown of the season and its first lead of the game.

With the Huskies pinned deep in their own end and trailing 7-3, quarterback Josh Haldi eluded a would-be Maryland tackler and scrambled left before passing to Fleck in front of the NIU sideline for 35 yards to the Terrapin 46-yard line.

After a 41-yard screen pass to Michael Turner got the Huskies to the Maryland five-yard line, Haldi was stopped on a keeper setting up Fleck’s first touchdown catch of the season.

The Kaneland native was split out right of Haldi and broke free when his defender got caught up in traffic which sent Fleck alone in the corner of the end zone.

Haldi’s touch pass landed in the outstretched fingertips of Fleck near the right corner of the end zone.

With the ball secured, the 5-foot-10 Fleck used all of his size 11 shoe to drag the turf on Brigham Field for a touchdown.

“Josh put the ball where it needed to be,” Fleck said. “It was the only place it could have been. I felt my big toe scrape the ground; it was a great throw.”

When summing up his performance, Fleck was quick to point out the outcome of the game and importance of his teammates before mentioning himself.

“I’d say [my performance] was OK because we won,” Fleck said. “If we would have lost, it would have meant zero. These guys are the best people in the world to me. They’re all my brothers and always will be.”