In front of 20,186 fans Saturday afternoon, the NIU football team had a 49-0 Homecoming victory over Central Michigan.

Winning its fourth straight MAC contest, NIU (5-3, 4-0) totaled its most points since Oct. 28, 2000, when it beat Buffalo 73-10.

In a game which the Huskies were favored by eight points over CMU (3-4, 1-2), the final score came as a shock to many.

“It’s a nice win,” coach Joe Novak said. “I certainly didn’t expect that. I thought that going into the season that Central Michigan was the most improved team in the league. Our kids are playing with confidence.”

The final score came as a surprise to the visitors, too. After playing conference favorite Bowling Green close last week, CMU coach Mike DeBord thought his team moved in the wrong direction Saturday.

“We didn’t do anything the whole game to be very honest with you,” DeBord said. “I really thought coming into this ball game that we would be able to take this game into the fourth quarter. That’s what’s real disappointing with the entire ball game.”

Turner, who gave the Huskies defense all the points they would need with a 21-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, added two more touchdowns runs of one and five yards and finished with 165 yards.

The North Chicago native now leads the nation in total rushing yards (1,259) and is second in rushing yards per game (157.4) behind Colorado’s Chris Brown (164.7).

NIU quarterback Josh Haldi finished the game 11-for-18 passing for 145 yards and one touchdown. Haldi engineered six touchdown drives, all of which were under three minutes in length.

“We’ve been a big-play type of team,” Novak said. “And my concern was we weren’t consistent enough in what we’re doing, but I thought today we did a little bit of everything; made some plays and played a little more consistent on both sides of the ball.”

The real story of the afternoon was the play of the Huskies defense.

After being torched for 572 yards last week against Miami (Ohio), the Huskies defense responded by holding CMU to 170 total yards.

“No question, this is our best defensive effort of the season,” Novak said. “They scored 28 points in the second half against Bowling Green. We made some plays.”

Novak said the defense was keyed by cornerback Vince Thompson, who had a 34-yard fumble return for a touchdown.

“I can’t tell you how important Vince Thompson is,” Novak said. “He is a real catalyst. Not having him those three weeks really hurt us and having him back there … he’s got a real air about him and I think the other kids feed off him a little bit.”

Justin Dole and Nick Duffy led the Huskies with six tackles. Senior defensive tackle Anthony Falbo tallied two tackles before he had to leave the game in the second quarter with a dislocated right wrist.

The defense also created opportunities for punt returner Dan Sheldon.

CMU was forced to punt 12 times, one short of a Huskie Stadium record and Sheldon returned nine of those punts for 119 yards, both school records.

Sheldon also added four catches for 47 yards.

“He’s really improved week to week,” Novak said. “Last week at Miami he ran some terrific routes to get himself open and Josh delivered the ball. I thought again today with his punt returning and his receiving he has really matured as a receiver.”

The Huskies are now 4-0 in the MAC for the first time since 1983. But NIU still faces Bowling Green and Toledo, both 3-0 in the MAC.

“It feels pretty good,” Novak said. “We’ve worked hard to not let it feel too good. I’ve been impressed with the maturity of our football team. Six years ago we said we wanted to be MAC champs and that goal hasn’t changed. These kids are focused but we got a lot to go yet. They’ve really had the ability to focus from week to week but we’ve got a lot of football to play.”