A good football coach is a good psychologist. So Northern Illinois’ Joe Novak turned to psychology Sunday. Novak stressed the good things his players had done while they lost their opener 23-20 at 22nd-ranked Maryland.
Novak praised quarterback Phil Horvath, who replaced injured starter Josh Haldi and completed 19 of 36 passes for 219 yards. Horvath is likely to replace Haldi again Saturday against Southern Illinois. Haldi has a stress fracture in his right foot.
Novak also lauded back Garrett Wolfe, hard-hitting defenders Lionel Hickenbottom and Brian Atkinson and running back A.J. Harris, who ran for 94 yards in his first game replacing graduated star Michael Turner.
Finally, Novak avoided extending a controversy that arose when the final 17 seconds expired while Horvath tried to spike the ball or throw a pass to get into field-goal range.