Northern Illinois football coach Joe Novak said Monday he did not know whether senior quarterback Josh Haldi would be able to play in Saturday’s home opener against Southern Illinois.
Haldi has a stress fracture in his right foot. Doctors cleared him to play last week at Maryland, but he lasted only three plays. He was replaced by sophomore Phil Horvath, who completed 19 of 36 passes in NIU’s 23-20 loss.
“I don’t know when Josh will play,” Novak said. “I’m not being evasive. It’s day-to-day, week-to-week. It could be tomorrow, or it could be a month.”
Bill Jauss.
Double-speak at Michigan
It looks as if Michigan freshman quarterback Chad Henne will start again Saturday at Notre Dame.
Coach Lloyd Carr wouldn’t say much Monday. But asked if Henne, who made his debut in the Wolverines’ season-opening victory, would start this weekend, he said: “I want to see what happens. But if nothing changes, nothing will change. How’s that?”
UCLA down but not out
Coming off a 31-20 loss to Oklahoma State, UCLA visits Illinois this week.
“I think we’re 10 times better [than 2003], and we didn’t play to where we nearly should of,” quarterback Drew Olson said.
“We know we can do better. Twenty points, and we turned the ball over [twice] in the red zone. Those should be touchdowns.”
TEAM, SYNOPSIS
La. Tech 38 Nevada 21
Ryan Moats rushed for 257 yards, including three touchdowns, for Louisiana Tech, which totaled 396 yards on ground. Tech defense held Nevada to just 7 yards rushing and sacked QB Jeff Rowe 7 times.
Miami Hurricanes
With Monday’s scheduled game with Florida St. postponed till Friday night because of Hurricane Frances, team practiced for first time in four days. “Guys’ minds were not on football,” center Joel Rodriguez said.
More Top Picks Best Party Lights
Florida St. Seminoles
Grandson (Bowden Madden) and former son-in-law (John Allen Madden) of coach Bobby Bowden were killed in Quincy, Fla., when their car was hit by a truck helping to restore power outages caused by Frances.
Michigan St. Spartans
Senior QB Damon Dowdell got start in loss at Rutgers, but redshirt freshman Stephen Reaves or soph Drew Stanton could start vs. Central Michigan. “Show up Saturday and you’ll know,” said coach John. L Smith.
Southern Miss Golden Eagles
Coach Jeff Bower, whose team plays Nebraska Saturday in season opener, said he doesn’t plan to bring up last year’s meeting. Cornhuskers turned 3 Southern Miss turnovers into TDs in a 38-14 rout.
Louisiana St. Tigers
Marcus Randall and JaMarcus Russell both struggled against Oregon State but did enough in overtime win to keep them in coach Nick Saban’s plans. Saban said he will use both QBs vs. Arkansas State.