Caught from behind
Lynn Wloszek
A 17-0 second quarter lead had CMU football fans looking ahead to a potential upset Saturday.
No. 12 Northern Illinois quickly downed the mood, reeling off four third quarter touchdowns en route to a 40-24 victory.
“We have a lot of seniors that stood up and took care of it themselves at halftime,” said NIU coach Joe Novak. “There was a lot of screaming going on.”
Senior halfback Michael Turner personified the swing, running for 125 yards and two touchdowns in the second half. Turner, a Heisman Trophy candidate, finished with 199 yards.
“He is a good football player every day,” said CMU coach Mike DeBord. “You can’t find a day when he’s not a good football player.”
The Huskies — the highest-ranked team ever to play at Kelly/Shorts Stadium — kept their 6-0 record in tact, despite injuries to quarterback Josh Haldi, wide receiver Dan Sheldon and linebacker Nick Duffy.
“We have players falling left and right out there,” Novak said. “We have had people stepping up all year.”
The Chippewas (2-4) put together their best half of the season, staking a 17-3 lead at halftime behind the running of Terrence Jackson and Kenan Lawhorne, each of whom scored a touchdown.
“If you don’t come out and play with emotion, they’re going to run through you and they really did,” Novak said.
The Huskies showed emotion on the opening drive of the second half, forcing a CMU punt. On the ensuing drive, Turner scored on a 46-yard pitch from Haldi on an option play.
“I felt like I was going to break one sooner or later,” Turner said. “It was just that kind of game.”
Despite Haldi’s head injury on the next drive, backup quarterback Ryan Gilbert led the offense on two consecutive scoring drives. After A.J. Harris scored on a two-yard run, NIU took a 24-17 lead.
Central battled back, when junior Anthony Tyus, Jr. recovered a fumble off a punt. CMU then scored on a 13-yard screen pass from senior Derrick Vickers to Lawhorne.
The Huskies again scored on the next drive, capitalizing on good field position from a CMU excessive celebration penalty. Turner upped the score to 31-24 on a two-yard touchdown run.
NIU has come from behind in all six of its wins.
“We aren’t taking anybody lightly,” Haldi said. “We knew it was going to be a dogfight going in and we were lucky to pull this one out.”
Vickers threw three of his four interceptions in the fourth quarter foiling any hope of a Chippewas comeback. Vickers finished with 215 yards and a touchdown.
Jackson had 90 yards on 24 carries while MAC-leading tackler James King had 14 stops.
Haldi and Gilbert combined to go 17-of-27 for 198 yards.
Interceptions, dropped passes and a blocked punt ended numerous drives. Despite this, DeBord said the Chippewas are just a couple plays away from turning these close calls into wins.
“When I look at Bowling Green (last week) and NIU, these are teams that were predicted to win the MAC,” DeBord said. “We had opportunities to win in both games. If people don’t realize how close we are, then they don’t know anything about football.”
The Chippewas lost to BGSU 23-3 Oct. 4, but trailed only 10-3 at halftime.
CMU hosts Toledo Saturday while the Huskies host Western Michigan.
