By Woodrow Carroll
It was not a classic victory! But for Northern Illinois University first-year head coach Thomas Hammock it was a welcome debut.
Hammock, who played at Northern Illinois for two seasons, 2000-2001, before a heart ailment ended his playing days early his junior year, was 1-0 after his Huskies defeated visiting Illinois State, 24-10, Saturday.
The road to game 13, a bowl invitation and/or MAC championship game, will become more difficult starting at Utah at noon Saturday.
Then the Huskies will play at Nebraska and at Vanderbilt. The theme is home before Labor Day, then not home again until October.
The next home game for Northern Illinois will be October 5 when Ball State will visit as defending Mid-American Conference (MAC) champion. The game will start Northern Illinois play in the MAC.
Illinois State, a member of the Missouri Valley Conference, figured to make the Huskies work for the victory. The game was 10-all early in the fourth quarter when Northern Illinois quarterback, Ross Bowers, connected with Tyrice Ritchie on a 66-yard scoring pass to make it 17-10 Northern Illinois.
With less than three minutes to play, Illinois State was forced to go for broke. It resulted in an interception by the Huskies’ Jalen McKie who returned the ball 32 yards to lock the victory for Northern Illinois. As a result McKie was selected MAC West player of the week.