Western Michigan 17, Northern Illinois 13

The play was as ugly as the weather, but Western Michigan grinded out a 17-13 win over Northern Illinois on a dark, overcast day to get to 2-0 in the MAC West.

The Broncos got 226 passing yards from sophomore quarterback Tim Hiller, who went over 3,000 career passing yards, and also got 104 yards on 27 carries from senior back Mark Bonds.

After some early fireworks, the two squads settled in and played a contest that wasn’t too appealing to the eye, but counts as a crucial win for Western Michigan (2-0 West, 2-1 MAC, 3-4 overall) nonetheless.

After D.J. Pinkle recovered a Brandon West fumble on Western’s first possession, NIU’s Chris Nendick booted a 22-yard field goal, putting the Huskies on the board first. Western Michigan took over at its own 21, and on the drive’s second play, Hiller threw a nifty slant pass to Juan Nunez, who dashed 77 yards angling left to right across the field, before stepping out of bounds at the NIU 2. The Broncos couldn’t score, however, and settled for a 21-yard kick by Mike Jones.

The Huskies quickly answered when WR Marcus Perez threw a 59 yard touchdown pass to a wide open Matt Simon on a little gadget play, giving NIU the lead back, 10-3. After a few punts, WMU took over at the NIU 42 thanks to a short punt by the Huskies’ Andy Dittbenner. It took the Broncos only 8 plays to score from there, with Bonds leaping in from a yard out to tie the game.

From that point on, what transpired was a mostly non-descript game, with both teams struggling to move the ball and establish any kind of down field threat. But after the game, WMU head man Bill Cubit didn’t care much how the victory looked.

“Anytime you come in to DeKalb and leave with a win, you’re very happy with your team,” Cubit said.

DeKalb is traditionally a tough trip for visiting MAC schools, with the steeply raked stands and typically raucous crowds. The fans topped 20,000 in attendance, and did their part, making noise on several key second half possessions, but the home town Huskies (0-3 West, 0-4 MAC, 1-6 overall) couldn’t move the ball consistently on offense.

The Huskies’ Justin Anderson continued his stellar season on the ground, posting his fifth straight game of 130 yards or more. Anderson has been remarkably consistent during the streak, rushing 28 or 29 times in four of the five, and landing somewhere between 157 and 168 yards in the previous four.

However, Northern Illinois’ problems on offense resulted mostly from a lack of playmakers other than Anderson. The sophomore back carried on 29 of Northern’s 33 running plays, and Huskie Coach Joe Novak joked that he’d seen this scenario play out before.

“I tell you guys every week that we’ve got to get away from it (giving Anderson so many carries), don’t I?” Novak asked reporters with a smile. “But it just keeps happening.”

The offensive burden for the Huskies fell even more squarely on Anderson’s shoulders with usual starting QB Dan Nicholson out to injury. Sophomore Ryan Morris got the first start of his NIU career, and put up competent numbers (13 of 25, 144 yards), but wasn’t successful throwing the ball down the field or on converting third downs. NIU was just 1 of 13 on third down conversions in the game.

Both teams squandered easy field goal chances that could have proved costly. Leading 13-10 before half, Anderson broke down the right sideline for a 52 yard gain to the WMU 10. After three Anderson carries resulted in a net gain of two yards, Chris Nendick shanked a 25 yard field goal attempt with 15 seconds left in the half.

Later, in the early fourth quarter, Bronco kicker Mike Jones pushed a 22-yard field goal wide, preventing WMU from expanding their 4 point lead.

Next week, the Broncos get Ball State in a crucial MAC West showdown while Northern Illinois heads to Wisconsin.

Central Michigan 35, Northern Illinois 10

Central Michigan got four TDs in the first fifteen and a half minutes, then coasted to a 35-10 win over Northern Illinois at CMU’s Homecoming on Saturday. The Chips slowed down in the second half, but had already kept their foot on the gas long enough to build an insurmountable lead.

The win snapped a 9-game losing streak for CMU against NIU, and may have sent a message to the MAC that, despite their slow start, the Chippewas (2-3, 2-0 MAC) are still a threat to win the conference.

Chips RB Justin Hoskins, who started in place of Ontario Sneed, said afterward that the game had extra meaning to CMU, coming off last week’s embarrassing 44-14 home loss to FCS squad North Dakota State. Hoskins ran for a nifty 40-yard touchdown on his first carry of the game, capping a quick 4 play, 80-yard drive for the Chippewas’ first score.

So was this a statement game, Hoskins was asked at the post-game press conference? “Yep,” the junior back said emphatically. “We ain’t playing no games.”

Hoskins ran for 93 yards on 14 carries and two scores after making the surprise start. CMU Coach Butch Jones gave no specific reason for Hoskins’ replacement of Sneed, other than to say that Hoskins had had a great week of practice and had “earned the right to start.” The Chippewas did rotate Hoskins and Sneed, but Sneed was far less effective, netting just 39 yards on 12 carries.

Northern Illinois (1-4, 0-2 MAC) got 157 rushing yards from Justin Anderson, including 59 on an opening drive that spanned 17 plays before Chris Nendick missed on an ugly field goal attempt from 21 yards. The Chips took over, and four plays later, Hoskins had them in the end zone.

On NIU’s next drive, the Huskies penetrated the Chips’ five yard line, only to come up empty handed once again. Central Michigan’s Red Keith, the leading active tackler in the FBS, forced Anderson to fumble, and CMU’s Frank Zombo recovered. Starting from their own one-yard line, the Chips gained first downs on three straight drop back pass plays, and were off to the races yet again. Once Central found itself in scoring position, Coach Butch Jones resorted to a bit of trickery.

On a play designed to look like an end-around to CMU WR Duane Brooks, QB Dan LeFevour snuck down the left sideline unmarked. As he approached the right edge, Brooks pulled up and threw a gorgeous soft lob to LeFevour, who didn’t have a defender within 15 yards of him. LeFevour walked in, and the Chips led by two scores.

“We’ve got Brooks, and we’ve got Gene Pitts, who is also a former quarterback,” Jones said afterward. “So we’ve got a few of those that we can throw in any week. The key with a successful trick play is knowing when to use it.”

The shootout continued throughout the first quarter, as both teams moved with ease by land and air. The two squads combined for 414 yards in the first period alone, a number which excludes Antonio Brown’s electrifying 90-yard kick return, which gave CMU a 21-7 lead with 1:31 to play in the quarter.

After NIU sophomore Zach Larsen fumbled the ensuing kickoff, Central took over deep in Northern territory. Five plays later, the Chips and LeFevour were the endzone again, taking a 28-7 lead on the signal-caller’s two yard QB sneak.

The Huskies, coming off their first win of the year at Idaho, outgained CMU by over 100 yards, 521-381, but were crippled by five turnovers and the special teams mishaps.

Remarkably, there was no second half scoring after all the fireworks of the first act. CMU brought their attack mostly between the tackles in an effort to run clock, and Northern struggled as they were forced to become one-dimensional, trailing by 25.

Central Michigan will head in to next week’s showdown at Ball State as the sole leader in MAC West divisional play at 2-0. Northern Illinois falls to 0-2, and plays Temple next Saturday in Philadelphia.