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DeKALB, IL ¬ – Too many critical mistakes and a stout Northern Illinois defense spelled the difference as the Bulls dropped a 45-14 Mid-American Conference football game on Saturday afternoon before 21,230 fans at Huskie Stadium.

Buffalo committed two turnovers, had a punt blocked and was tackled deep in its own territory after a fumble on a punt in the game. That was too much for the UB defense to handle as the Huskies pulled away from a seven-point halftime lead for the win to improve to 5-2 and 3-0 in conference play. Buffalo fell to 2-4 and 1-1 in league play.

The Bulls defense, which was on the field for 45 plays in the first half alone, showed signs of fatigue in the second half as NIU scored on its first two possessions – a field goal and two-yard touchdown by Chad Spann – to open up a 31-14 lead and the Huskies had control from there.

Northern had a huge advantage in both time of possession and total plays (76-59), which wore down UB in the second half. Offensively, the Bulls struggled throughout the game, gaining a season-low 250 yards and completing just nine passes on the day.

“Northern is a very good football team and that was evident today,” said head coach Jeff Quinn. “Very disappointing for us and unacceptable the way we came here and played. It’s a four-quarter game and that’s what you have to keep in mind – that’s certainly the mark of a very good football team and we haven’t been able to quite finish games in the second half yet.

“It was very disappointing production on offense today, we just couldn’t get any rhythm with Jerry (Davis) today, but that has a lot to do with how well Northern played. We are going to play the best players that give us the best chance to win and I’m going to look at every position and every player knows that from me.”

Despite the loss, the UB defense made several key plays and stops, including forcing two interceptions, one that went for a score. Senior Davonte Shannon led the way with 14 tackles, while sophomore defensive end Steven Means recorded a career-high nine tackles and linebacker Raphael Akobundu added eight. Senior safety Domonic Cook had another outstanding game with seven tackles, including three for losses and the third interception of the season.

The Bulls defense, which came into the game ranked 25th in the nation in total defense, came up big on Northern’s first possession.

Steven Means threw tailback Chad Spann for a two-yard loss on second down. Senior cornerback Josh Thomas broke up a pass at the goal line on third down. NIU’s kicker then missed a field goal to keep the game scoreless.

The Huskies got on the scoreboard early in the second quarter after a key special teams miscue by the Bulls. Punter Jacob Schum was tackled after bobbling a snap inside the UB 10-yard line. The Huskies took advantage when quarterback Chandler Harnish hit Landon Cox for a 10-yard touchdown on third and goal with 11:58 left in the first half.

Special teams continued to plague the Bulls as on the ensuing kickoff, the ball was bobbled and recovered at the UB 12-yard line. After three downs, Buffalo was forced to punt from its own end zone. The kick was blocked, rolling dead at the UB 20-yard line.

Amazingly, the UB defense stoned-walled the Huskies again. Senior safety Domonic Cook threw Akeem Daniels for a two-yard loss and provided coverage on a third down incompletion. NIU was forced into a 25-yard field goal which they missed to keep the score 7-0.

Buffalo's defense then took matters into its own hands by scoring the Bulls’ first points of the game. Linebacker Khalil Mack hit Harnish as he was attempting to throw, and defensive end Gordon DuBois picked it off, running 27 yards for his first career score. After the PAT, UB had tied it 7-7 with 7:32 to go in the second quarter.

On the ensuing possession, the Huskies drove to the UB 17-yard line before Cook ended the drive with his third interception of the season in the end zone.
Just two plays later, however, Buffalo gave the ball right back at its 30-yard line when Branden Oliver fumbled after picking up a first down.

That miscue set off a scoring explosion that saw 21 points scored in the final five minutes of the first half. NIU regained the lead when Harnish hit Willie Clark on a 25-yard touchdown in the right corner of the end zone.

On the next possession, Buffalo turned the ball over again, as Davis was intercepted and the ball was returned to the Bulls’ five-yard line. Three plays later Chad Spann scored from one yard out to put the Huskies up 21-7 with 1:10 left.

However, the Bulls entered halftime with momentum after one of the longest scoring plays in UB’s Mid-American Conference history. Davis faked an out pattern and went up top to Marcus Rivers for an 81-yard touchdown pass down the left sideline with just :31 left in the half. Buffalo went to intermission trailing, 21-14.

NIU offense proved too much in the second half and the Bulls’ offense could not get untracked.

Buffalo will host Temple next Saturday at 12 noon as part of Homecoming weekend festivities. Northern Illinois completes a three-game homestand by hosting Central Michigan Saturday.

Courtesy of Buffalo Athletics

Northern Illinois Notes
***Northern Illinois is off to its best start since the 2004 season when the Huskies went 7-2 to start the season.  NIU's fourth straight victory matched its longest winning streak last year.

***Chad Spann tallied his fourth 100-yard rushing day of the year and the eighth of his career with a career-high 31 carries for 111 yards.  Spann moved into NIU’s career Top 10 in rushing as he now has 2,281 yards all-time to rank 10th. 

***Jordan Lynch’s 90-yard rushing touchdown was the longest rush since Leshon Johnson had a 92-yard carry in NIU’s 45-15 victory over Southern Illinois on October 2, 1993. His 91-yard mark is the fourth-longest rush in school history.

***Lynch’s 90-yard carry was the longest rush by an NIU quarterback in school history. The previous NIU record by a quarterback was set by Ricky Bridges who recorded a 79-yard rush against Western Illinois on Sept. 2, 1980.

***The play was also tied for the 20th-longest scoring play all-time and the longest since a 91-yard completion from Chandler Harnish to Nathan Palmer versus Minnesota on Aug. 30, 2008.  

***Chandler Harnish moved into NIU’s all-time Top five in passing yards with his 160 yards on 13-of-26 passing today.  Harnish has 4,285 career passing yards, surpassing Marshall Taylor who has 4,167.

***Buffalo finished the game with 10 first downs and just 250 total yards, the lowest totals in those categories by an NIU opponent this year. 

***NIU shut down an opponent in the second half for the second consecutive game.  Neither Temple nor Buffalo scored a point after halftime.

***Senior Ed Jackson made his first career start Saturday in place of Logan Pegram at left guard.

***Senior Landon Cox caught his third touchdown pass of the season, and the eighth of his career, to give NIU a 7-0 lead.  Cox also caught a TD pass last week versus Temple.

***Junior receiver Willie Clark is keeping pace with Cox as he caught his third touchdown pass of the year in the second quarter.  Clark’s 25-yard grab put the Huskies up 14-7.

***Chad Spann scored his seventh and eighth rushing touchdowns of the year and the 34th and 35th rushing touchdowns of his career.  Spann has scored at least one rushing TD in six straight games this season and in 12 of the Huskies’ last 14 games dating back to last year’s Miami game (Oct. 24).

***NIU cornerback Chris Smith made his second interception of the year, and the second INT of his career, in the second quarter.  Smith leads Northern Illinois with two interceptions and they have come in back-to-back games.

***Jimmie Ward’s blocked punt was his second of the year and NIU’s second of the season.  The Huskies have blocked eighth punts in the last three seasons under Jerry Kill.   During that time, Ward is the first player to block two punts.

***Chandler Harnish threw just his second interception of the year – and his first since the North Dakota game – in the second quarter.  Harnish had thrown 108 straight passes without an interception dating back to his last pass of the second quarter versus UND.

***NIU kicker Michael Cklamovski saw his streak of seven straight made field goals snapped.