By Woodrow Carroll
In a span of less than 15 minutes, the Northern Illinois University Huskies outscored the visiting University of Wyoming Cowboys, 27-0, in the Saturday, Sept. 11 football game in DeKalb. Northern Illinois, which had looked hopelessly lost a short time earlier, was suddenly in the driver’s seat and leading, 43-42. Sadly, Wyoming scored late in the game to pull out a 50-43 victory.
The prior week, Northern Illinois pulled out a 22-21 victory at Georgia Tech in Atlanta by scoring late and then making a two-point conversion to give Northern Illinois the victory.
Up next for Northern Illinois, 1-1, is a game at 11 a.m. at Michigan Saturday, Sept. 18.
The following week Northern Illinois will be host the Maine Black Bears at 1:30 p.m.
Prognosticators have Northern Illinois losing at Michigan and then beating Maine. If so, the Huskies will start Mid-American Conference (MAC) play with a 2-2 record when Eastern Michigan comes to DeKalb October 2.
The fans at Huskie Stadium Saturday against Wyoming had little to cheer about for the better part of three quarters. Wyoming led, 42-16.
Huskies’ quarterback Rocky Lombardi had it rough early on. Lombardi was sacked twice and intercepted three times. The third interception was returned 23 yards for a Wyoming touchdown that made the score 42-16.
It was Lombardi’s counterpart for Wyoming ,Sean Chambers, who ended up making the game’s big play. At the Northern Illinois nine and facing third and goal with 1:46 left in the fourth quarter, Chambers ran for the winning touchdown.. Then Chambers passed for the two-point conversion for a 50-43 lead. A final Northern Illinois drive fell short and the Cowboys had the victory.
As the season moves along, Northern Illinois backers may rue the loss to Wyoming. Things were looking up in Huskie Country. With a victory over Wyoming, the prospects of a bowl game looked good. Now there is serious work to be done.
Northern Illinois is in its third season with Thomas Hammock as head coach.
After a 5-7 run his first year (2019), Hammock’s charges were 0-6 in a COVID-19-shortened campaign last year. An upper echelon MAC football program for many years, the Huskies seek to get back on track.
After last weekend’s games, the MAC is the lone conference without an undefeated team. The MAC is a combined 8-16 with eight teams sporting 1-1 records and four teams each with 0-2 records.
• Remember when Illinois opened the season with a 30-22 victory over favored Nebraska? Care to guess the only Big Ten team presently with a losing record? Illinois you say? Correct!
After Saturday’s 42-14 loss at Virginia (2-0), the Fighting Illini dropped to 1-2. Although most Big Ten teams have played only two games the Illini have logged three games. After opening with a victory over Nebraska, the Illini have lost to Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) and Virginia.
The game with Virginia was the first regular-season meeting between the two programs. Twice, Illinois and Virginia squared off in bowl games – the 1990 Florida Citrus Bowl and the 1999 Micronpc.com Bowl, with Illinois winning both games.
As was the case in the loss to UTSA, two quick touchdowns by Virginia set Illinois on its heels early. Illinois pulled to within 21-14 early in the third quarter. The Cavaliers pulled away late.
Next up for Illinois is a Big Ten Conference game Friday at 8 p.m. with visiting Maryland, 2-0, in Champaign. The Terrapins offer Illinois a chance to get back on track.