Northern Illinois coach Joe Novak was to the point:
“If I could cry, I would, but I’m too old to cry.”
He and the Huskies had reason to reach for handkerchiefs Saturday night as they watched Southern Illinois rally for 20 fourth-quarter points, including two touchdowns in the final 61 seconds, to overcome a 31-14 deficit and take a 34-31 victory before a crowd of 24,182 at Huskie Stadium.
NIU (0-2) piled up 207 rushing yards and 223 passing but could not close out Southern Illinois (2-0), which refused to wilt under a wave of Huskies offense.
To make the news worse for Northern Illinois, tailback Montell Clanton will miss the rest of the season with what appears to be a torn right knee ligament suffered in the third quarter. Clanton, who rushed for 91 yards and scored on a 59-yard run in the second quarter, was returning from a season-ending knee injury sustained in the third game last season.
Middle linebacker Tim McCarthy also went out with a right knee injury, believed to be a sprain of both the posterior and medial collateral ligaments that will cost him an undetermined amount of time.
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The Salukis scored on cornerback Brandon Williams’ 52-yard interception return with a bit less than 11 minutes left to begin the comeback and draw Southern within 31-21. After Northern netted nothing from a fumble recovery at the SIU 38 with four minutes to go, quarterback Nick Hill led the Salukis on an 84-yard drive in 15 plays, finishing with a 26-yard touchdown pass to tight end Ryan Kernes with a bit more than a minute remaining. That made it 31-28.
SIU safety Clayton Johnson recovered the onside kick to give his offense the ball at the Salukis’ 43 with 58 seconds remaining. Hill needed only five plays to produce the winning score, throwing 30 yards to wide receiver Justin Allen with 22 seconds left.
“I ran my route, found a hole in the defense and Nick just found me,” Allen said.
NIU was repeatedly unable to come up with a needed stop late as the Salukis benefited from two tipped passes that ended in completions, converted four of six fourth downs and stayed in rhythm with a no-huddle offense and Hill’s accuracy.
“We worked a lot on the two-minute offense in camp, and the players probably wondered why [I] was running so much two-minute,” Southern Illinois coach Jerry Kill said.
“Sometimes players don’t see the end result, but they saw it today.”
For three quarters it had been all Northern Illinois. Quarterback Dan Nicholson completed 15 consecutive passes through the second and third quarters as tailback Justin Anderson picked up 87 yards and scored twice on pass receptions and once rushing in the third quarter.
But Nicholson, who was intercepted three times last week against Iowa, threw two poor passes that Southern Illinois returned for touchdowns. The first was a desperation toss on a screen pass in the second quarter that defensive tackle Larry Luster returned 55 yards. The second was in the direction of wide receiver Britt Davis before Williams easily stepped in front of him in the flat.
“We were trying to take the short stuff and keep the clock moving,” Nicholson said, who finished 21 of 27 passing. “They just made a play.”
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