Northern Illinois Pummels Yale 52-21 to Keep Bowl Hopes Alive
DeKalb, IL - Garrett Wolfe rushed for 264 yards and three touchdowns as the Northern Illinois Huskies (4-4) evened up their record at .500 and kept their bowl hopes intact with a 52-21 blowout win this evening at home against the winless Yale Bulldogs (0-8).
Northern Illinois led 38-7 at halftime and 52-7 early in the fourth quarter before they called off the dogs, no pun intended, and the Bulldogs tacked on two late touchdowns against the Huskies' second-teamers.
The Huskies only threw the ball 10 times all day, but they didn't need to put the ball in the air much against the porous Yale rush defense, which allowed 314 rushing yards on the day. Overall, Northern Illinois totaled 436 yards of total offense.
Yale's offense put up a season-best 21 points this evening, but 14 of those points came in the fourth quarter in garbage time against Northern Illinois' second-teamers. Nonetheless, Yale quarterback Jeff McNamara threw for 269 yards, three touchdowns, and three interceptions. Tyson Brewer (4 Rec, 62 Yds, TD) caught one of McNamara's touchdowns, and second string running back Marque Kearney (2 Rec, 4 Yds, 2 TD) caught the other two. Trey Duckett caught six passes for 96 yards to lead Yale in receiving yards and receptions.
This was Yale's third consecutive game allowing at least 52 points.
Also of note, starting right guard Stacy Thompson suffered a dislocated elbow and will miss the remainder of the season. Additionally, starting place kicker and punter Jason Burrell was suspended for three games, starting with tonight's game, for an undisclosed academic violation. Daniel Brown stepped in for Burrell, but there was a noticeable dropoff in the punt and kickoff teams today as a result (Yale attempted no field goals, but Brown made his PAT attempts today).
Yale will host Bowling Green next Saturday.
Northern Illinois 52, Yale 21
Yale - 00 / 07 / 00 / 14
NIU - 21 / 17 / 07 / 07
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter:
(5:52) NIU: 37 yard pass from Cason to Horne (7-0 NIU)
(3:20) NIU: 11 yard run by Wolfe (14-0 NIU)
(0:53) NIU: 39 yard run by Wolfe (21-0 NIU)
2nd Quarter:
(6:10) NIU: 6 yard run by Horne (28-0 NIU)
(2:06) Yale: 1 yard pass from McNamara to Kearney (28-7 NIU)
(0:59) NIU: 27 yard pass from Cason to Horne (35-7 NIU)
(0:00) NIU: 44 yard field goal by Bates (38-7 NIU)
3rd Quarter:
(6:00) NIU: 31 yard run by Wolfe (45-7 NIU)
4th Quarter:
(5:58) NIU: 7 yard run by Poland (52-7 NIU)
(3:58) Yale: 3 yard pass from McNamara to Kearney (52-14 NIU)
(1:35) Yale: 13 yard pass from McNamara to Brewer (52-21 NIU)
Team Statistics (Yale / NIU)
First Downs: 14 / 21
Total Offense: 263 / 436
Rushes-Yards: 19-(-6) / 38-314
Comp-Att-TD: 21-36-3 / 6-10-2
Passing Yards: 269 / 122
Sacked: 3 / 0
Turnovers: 3 / 0
Total Yards: 416 / 554
Penalties-Yards: 0-0 / 2-19
T.O.P.: 14:29 / 13:31
Individual Statistics
Yale Bulldogs
J. McNamara: 21/36, 269 Yds, 3 TD, 3 Int
T. Moore: 12 Car, 13 Yds, 4 Rec, 24 Yds
M. Kearney: 1 Car, 2 Yds, 2 Rec, 4 Yds, 2 Rec TD
T. Duckett: 6 Rec, 96 Yds
T. Brewer: 4 Rec, 62 Yds, TD
C. Cross: 1 Rec, 42 Yds
L. Pressley: 4 Rec, 41 Yds
K. Hawthorne: 6 Tkl, TFL
S. McFadden: 6 Tkl
S. Whitaker: 6 Tkl
J. Malone: 5 Tkl
C. Roberts: 4 Tkl
D. Brown: 0/0 FG, N/A Long, 2/2 PAT, 6 Punts, 189 Yds, 31.5 Avg, 0 Inside 20
J. McNamara: 0/0 FG, N/A Long, 1/1 PAT (I didn't realize I had my quarterback in as backup kicker instead of my punter, fortunately he made it!
)
Northern Illinois Huskies
V. Cason: 6/10, 122 Yds, 2 TD, 3 Car, 18 Yds
G. Wolfe: 27 Car, 264 Yds, 3 TD
G. Oland: 5 Car, 22 Yds, TD
S. Horne: 1 Car, 6 Yds, 2 Rec, 64 Yds, 2 TD
T. Johnson: 2 Rec, 42 Yds
A. Berg: 5 Tkl, 3 TFL, Sck
M. Covington: 4 Tkl
W. Smith: 3 Tkl, 2 TFL
A. Daniels: 2 Tkl, Int
M. Greene: Tkl, TFL, Int
C. Thornton: Tkl, Int
J. Bates: 1/1 FG, Long 44, 7/7 PAT, 3 Punts, 125 Yds, 41.6 Avg, 1 Inside 20