Box Score
Game Notes
DeKALB, Ill. - Western Michigan rained on Northern Illinois' parade on homecoming weekend at Brigham Field at Huskie Stadium. The Bronco defense proved to be too much for the Huskies, shutting NIU out in the second half. WMU had the only score after halftime, the go ahead seven-yard touchdown pass from Tim Hiller to Branden Ledbetter with 13:10 left in the third quarter to give Western Michigan the 17-13 lead. All Bronco fans got a scare on the last play of the game when Ryan Morris completed a pass to Matt Simon who looked to lateral the ball. After last weeks heartbreaking loss on the last play against Akron, everyone was ecstatic to see the ball hit the turf and WMU recover has time ran out.
Western Michigan started off the game with the ball, and lost it two plays later. After a completion on a swing pass from Hiller to Brandon West, West put the ball on the turf and for the second straight week Western Michigan handed the ball over on their first possession.
But also for the second straight week, the Bronco defense allows only a field goal after the turnover, a 22-yard boot by Chris Nendick putting the Huskies up 3-0 with 12:20 left in the first quarter.
On the Broncos next possession, the second play of the drive served a better purpose for the Brown and Gold. Hiller hit Juan Nunez in stride on a middle slant and let Nunez do the rest. Nunez dashed up the sideline 77-yards, the longest of his career, before being stepping out at the two yard line. After an illegal motion penalty and three failed attempts to get into the end zone, kicker Mike Jones tied things up at three a piece with a 21-yard field goal at the 10:40 mark in the first quarter. Jones remains a perfect five for five this season on field goals, and six for six in his career.
With 5:32 left in the first quarter, Northern Illnois head coach Joe Novak pulled a play out of Bill Cubit's playbook when he called a wide receiver reverse pass on second down from his own 41 yard-line. Wide receiver Marcus Perez received the end around the right side, sucking the Broncono defenders in. Perez waited until the last moment and found Simon down field wide open for a 59-yard touchdown. Nendick added the extra point, making it 10-3.
Northern Illinois' next drive was shut down by the Bronco defense, and on fourth down and five the Huskies tried to run a fake punt, but the up-back Mark Larsen fumbled to ball forward to the 45 yard-line. Western Michigan took over on downs, but after two plays Hiller gave the ball right back to the Huskies when he was intercepted on third down by Mark Reiter, who returned the interception 22-yards to the WMU 46 yard-line.
The WMU defense bailed the offense out once again after allowing only four-yards from Northern Illnois' offense, and forcing another punt from NIU's Andy Dittbenner to end the first quarter.
The start of the second quarter brought a new quarter, but the same offensive struggles. Hiller and Co. continued to have trouble moving the ball, and were forced to punt again.
The story of the first half was Western Michigan's defense picking up the slack, who continued to make stops against Northern Illnois and give the ball back to their struggling offense.
The WMU offense finally made a statement with an eight play, 42 yard touchdown drive to show the defense they can make the big plays as well. Mark Bonds powered his way through the line into the end zone from 1-yard out for the first touchdown for Western Michigan's offense. The offense found success from their running back tandom of Bonds and West, who accounted for 29 of the 42 yards on the drive. Jones added to the extra point to make it 10-10 with 8:13 left in the second quarter.
The Brown and Gold defense bent, but didn't break on the Huskies ensuing possession. NIU drove 51 yards to the WMU 11 yard-line were they were stopped on third-and-two and held to another Nendick field goal attempt, which he nailed from 28-yards out putting the Huskies up 13-10 with 4:49 left in the first half.
The Bronco defense, who were on the field for most of the first half, took the field once again to square off against the NIU offense. Once again, the defense bent but did not break when running back Justin Anderson ran wild for 52-yards, getting inside the WMU 10 yard-line. Anderson ran three straight times and was denied every time by the stingy Bronco defense. With 0:15 seconds left NIU brought out Nendick for his third field goal attempt of the first half from, this time for 25-yards. Cubit showed off his coaching experience when he called two straight timeouts to ice Nendick, and his strategy paid off. The kick went wide right, sending WMU into the locker room at halftime only down by a field goal; 13-10.
A slow start in the first half is hardly uncharacterist of Western Michigan, but they are also known for coming out firing on all cylinders in the second half.
On Northern Illinois' first possession of the second half, Anderson put the ball on the turf and Dustin Duclo pounced on a loose ball at the NIU 41 yard-line. The fumble recovery marks the 33rd straight games that WMU has caused a turnover.
The Western Michigan offense took full advantage of the turnover, marching 40 yards down the field, 32 yards coming on a Bonds burst up the right sideline. Hiller capped off the drive with a seven-yard touchdown pass on a maraculous catch by Ledbetter. Hiller was hit in the backfield, but spun off the rusher and rolled left to find a leaping Ledbetter in the back of the endzone. With that touchdown catch, Ledbetter gained sole possession of third place in touchdown receptions by a tight end at WMU. WMU took it's first lead of the game at 17-13 with 13:10 left in the third quarter.
Western Michigan owned the third quarter, allowing NIU to gain only 12 total yards, while WMU gained 135 total yards in the third.
It appeared WMU would continue it's dominance in the fourth quarter as well, when Jones came out for a 22-yard chip shot field goal. Jones, who already nailed a 21-yard field goal in the first quarter, missed his first goal of his career.
Jones was able to breathe easy, however, after the Huskie offense was shut down on the ensuing possesion by a dominanting Bronco defense and were forced to punt.
With under three minutes left in the fourth quarter, NIU was driving down the field and got into WMU territory all the way down to the 36 yard line. Down by four, NIU had to score a touchdown. On third-and-ten Mr. Clutch, Londen Fryar, broke up a Morris pass to bring up fourth down. Another incompletion turned the ball over on downs and gave the ball back to the Broncos with less than two minutes left in the game.
Northern Illinois used up all of its timeouts on the Broncos next possession, and on third-and-two for WMU Bonds could have sealed the deal with a first down with only one minute left in the game. Bonds was tackled for a two-yard loss, and Jim Laney booted a punt that landed out of bounds inside the seven-yard line.
With 0:16 seconds left and no timeouts, NIU had to put together a John Elway-like drive of 93 yards for a score. Morris completed a pass accross the middle to Simon who attempted to pitch the ball in a very Boise State-like fashion. Thankfully for the Broncos, Simon's pitch wasn't as effective as last weeks infamous "Akron pitch" as the pitch fell to ground with WMU recovering the fumble as time expired.
Western Michigan will host Ball State next week for its homecoming game at 2 p.m. EST
