Western Michigan Game Notes
-- Today is head coach Bill Cubit's 53rd birthday after his son, senior QB Ryan Cubit, celebrated his 24th birthday last Saturday
-- Western Michigan's defense held Northern Illinois to a season-low 157 total yards (previous low-340)
-- Western Michigan's defense held NIU RB Garrett Wolfe to 25 yards, the second lowest output of his career (24 yards vs. Maryland in 2004)
-- WR Herb Martin started his first career game and caught a career-long 30-yard pass on the second play of the game, he finished the game with a career-high 71 yards receiving
-- CB Londen Fryar intercepted his fourth pass of the year and his career in the first quarter
-- Cubit pinned NIU at its own 16-yard line with a 31-yard punt in the first quarter, the first of his career, he finished the game with three punts for a 37.7 yard average
-- Cubit set season-highs in yards, attempts and completions and tied his career-high in completions
-- WR Chris Maragos caught a career-long 23-yard pass in the first quarter and his 34 yards receiving are a career high
-- CB E.J. Biggers has intercepted a pass in three of the Broncos' last four games
-- RB Mark Bonds four receptions are a career high
-- TE Matt Stevens first career catch came on a two-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter
-- LB Ameer Ismail intercepted his first career pass in the third quarter
-- This is the second time this season the Broncos have intercepted three passes in a game
-- WR Joe Chapple set a new career high with eight receptions
-- PK Nate Meyer set a season high with three field goals
Northern Illinois Game Notes
-- The blocked punt by NIU's Greg Turner was the first blocked punt for Northern Illinois since Dec. 30, 2004 when Dustin Utschig blocked a Troy punt in the Silicon Valley Bowl. When Jarret Carter recovered the punt in the end zone for the NIU touchdown, it was the first blocked punt recovered for a touchdown by NIU since Sept. 6, 2003, when Ray Smith's block was recovered by Devon Francis in the endzone versus Tennessee Tech.
-- Senior Jarret Carter recorded his first career touchdown on the blocked punt recovery. Tim McCarthy's first-quarter interception was the first of his career and NIU's second interception of the season. It was also the longest INT return of the year for Northern Illinois (44 yards).
-- Northern Illinois kicker Chris Nendick extended his school record consecutive game scoring streak to 31 games with his first-quarter PAT. Nendick has scored at least one point in every game of his NIU career.
-- Keenan Blalark equaled his season-high with 14 tackles (also vs. Buffalo on Sept. 16). Dustin Utschig had a season-best 12 stops. Mark Reiter set a career-high with 12 tackles. Craig Rusch and Cory Hanson each tied career bests with nine and eight tackles, respectively.
-- The Northern Illinois offense ran only five plays in the first quarter thanks to the special teams' touchdown and to Western Michigan's ability to convert third downs and sustain drives.
-- In holding Western Michigan to 16 points, the NIU defense has held opposing offenses to less than 17 points in three games on the season.
-- NIU's Andy Dittbenner recorded a career-long 57-yard punt in the third quarter.
-- NIU TB Garrett Wolfe was held to 25 yards on 18 carries Saturday, the first time he has been held below 100 yards since last year's regular season game at Akron (Sept. 24, 2005) when he had 52 yards on 21 carries. Prior to today's game, Wolfe had recorded 11 straight 100-yard rushing games (in fact, he was over 150 yards in each of his past 11 contests) and had scored at least one touchdown in 11 straight contests.
-- With five catches for 31 yards, Wolfe did tally 51 all-purpose yards on the day, accounting for nearly one-third of Northern Illinois' 157 yards of total offense.
-- NIU totaled 157 yards of total offense today. The last time Northern Illinois was held to less than 200 offensive yards was on November 9, 2004 versus Toledo when the Huskies had just 180. The Huskies have not been held to less than 200 yards in the last five years (since 2001).
