When people think of the state of Illinois many things come to mind, but mainly Chicago. Until recently football in Illinois was only really centered on the Chicago Bears, until one player, Jordan Lynch, changed that.

Lynch increased Northern Illinois’ reputation because of his excellent abilities, which enabled him to compete for the Heisman Award for two straight seasons.

So, our beloved Blue Hose took the 2 hour flight to see what the fuss was all about.

Going into this game, both sides knew it would be a tough one, since PC wanted to get an early season win in what looks to be a promising season and Northern Illinois wished to refocus their program now that Jordan Lynch has graduated.

As I stood on the sideline as the game and got ready to start, the atmosphere just felt different, a bigger stadium, different atmosphere, a lot more northerners and a lot of corn fields nearby. Then I looked into the stands and saw about 40 PC fans and everything felt the same, almost like I was at Bailey Memorial Stadium.

Unfortunately right before kickoff the rain began (it started as a drizzle, but by the 3^rd quarter it was pouring). As the game began PC was driving and shocking every NIU player and fan. It seemed like PC was going to give them a game, and then they fumbled the ball. The fumble seemed to set the tone for the game.

PC could never seem to get anything going in the first quarter, first downs and key tackles where scarce. By the end of the first quarter NIU began to run away with it, scoring two touchdowns and kicking a field goal. So by the end of one, it was a 17 point deficit for PC.

I will defend PC though, because the defense played way to many snaps and never got any long breaks, (because of PC’s lack of first downs).  The second quarter was very similar, with the only main difference being it was raining harder. Once again Northern Illinois scored two touchdowns and kicked a field goal, extending their lead 17 point score to a 34 point lead.

The third quarter was very different for everyone involved.  It was raining harder and PC ended the shut out, by kicking a field goal. However the defense still tired from playing way more snaps than they should surrendered three touchdowns (21 points).  So after the 3^rd the game was basically over with a 55-3 lead for the NIU huskies.  As the fourth quarter began the rain stopped and reserve players began to enter the game. The fourth quarter saw no points scored by either team, so the game ended 55-3.

As a fan and sports writer, it is easy to be a couch coach or quarterback. So I am not going to say what they should have done or what they did wrong. I will state turnovers that seemed to hurt the Hose as they gave up three of them. From an offensive point the hose just couldn’t seem to get anything going, and that in turn hurt the defense as well. Since the defense played more snaps that usual the appeared to be tired (109 of them), and rightfully so. This led to a weaker run defense for the game and multiple touchdowns for the Huskies. But like I said, I will not try and be a couch coach.

1^st Quarter

Matt McIntosh touchdown pass to DaRon Brown…7-0

Field goal by Tyler Wedel 10-0

Joel Bouagnon 1 yard TD run..17-0

2^nd Quarter

Joel Bouagnon 23 yard touchdown run.. 24-0

Joel Bouagnon 9 yard touchdown run    31-0

Tyler Wedel   field goal        34-0

3^rd Quarter

Drew Hare touchdown pass to Juwan Brescacin  41-0

Joel Bouagnon 1 yard touchdown run  48-0

Draco Smith 10 yard touchdown run  55-0

Bradnon Morrow field goal 55-3

4^th quarter

No points

Passing

PC                                                                                        NIU

Kaleb Griffin 2-4 31 yards                                              Drew Hare 8-13 100 yards 1TD

Heys McMath 8-14 27 yards  1INT                               Matt McIntosh 10-14 87 yards 1TD

Rushing

PC                                                                                         NIU yards

LaQuan Mayes 6ATT 31 yards                                       Akeem Daniels 15 ATT 118 yards

Blake Roberts   6ATT 17 yards                                       Joel Bouagnon 16 ATT 97 yards   4 TD

Darrell Bridges 9ATT 12 yards                                       Draco Smith 7 ATT 1 TD

Receiving

PC                                                                                      NIU

Tobi Antigha 3 Rec 7yard                                             DaRon Brown 7 Rec 91 yard

Daryl Wilson 1 Rec 27 yard                                          Juwan Brescacin 2 Rec 53 yard

Jordan Hallums 2 Rec 14 yards                                   Tommylee Lewis 3 Rec 25 yard

NIU put over 600 yards over total offense while PC was forced to under 200 yards. But NIU had 60 more offensive snaps. One bright spot is PC was only penalized twice.

Rome wasn’t built in day and the season is still very early. PC still has a chance to win the Big South and looks to rebound next week in a night game, under the lights against Bluefield. So be sure to come out and support the Blue Hose!