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player ready...DEKALB — Rod Carey said he was prepared for a “big-boy slugfest” when his Huskies played host to Central Michigan on Saturday afternoon.
The Huskies wound up getting socked 34-17, ending the nation’s longest home-stadium winning streak at 28. The loss also snapped NIU’s run of 24 straight regular-season Mid-American Conference victories.
“I am not disappointed about the streaks.That’s stuff you guys put on paper,” Carey said. “I am disappointed we lost the game and homecoming. And that’s tough with a lot of the old guys back here.
“And the biggest thing I am disappointed for is these guys. They’ve worked hard; we just need to work harder and we need to work better. Streaks are exactly what they are. We can start a new one next week.”
One big reason for the Huskies’ demise: Thomas Rawls, a relentless 5-foot-10, 217-pound senior tailback. He rushed for 270 yards on 40 carries for Central Michigan (4-3, 2-1).
“From the beginning of the game (NIU players) were chatting a lot,” Rawls said.”I kept my mouth quiet and I just played. The offensive line was punishing too.”
Central Michigan had been the last MAC team to win in DeKalb, 33-30 in overtime on Nov. 12, 2008. NIU’s last home loss came against Idaho on Sept. 26, 2009.
Rawls became the first player to rush for 100 yards against the Huskies (4-2, 1-1) this season and the first to rush for 200 yards since Jan. 2, 2010, when South Florida’s Mike Ford went for 207 in the International Bowl .
“The guy’s a competitor,” Chippewas coach Dan Enos said. “He’s tough, he has very good vision … turning 3-yard runs into 6- or 7-yard runs. That’s a huge difference in calling your game and running an offense.”
NIU had taken a quick 7-0 lead on a pass from Drew Hare to Juwan Brescacin. But CMU answered with a pair of TD runs by Rawls from 5 and 13 yards. Cooper Rush (20-for-31, 269 yards) connected with Jesse Kroll on a 6-yard pass play to make it 21-7.
With NIU trailing 24-7 early in the third quarter, Michael Santacaterina intercepted Rush, but the Huskies settled for a 24-yard Tyler Wedel field goal.
“We were pretty fired up (after the interception),” Santacaterina said. “We would have liked to have more big plays. We needed more turnovers on defense.”
But the Chippewas came right back with a 13-yard TD pass from Rush to Ben McCord.
NIU tried to make it interesting with Hare and Brescacin connected again from 14 yards to make it 31-17. But CMU countered with a drive that ended with a 23-yard field goal by Eavey.
Earlier in the week, Carey said he planned to start Hare and bring in Anthony Maddie at some point. But Maddie did not play.
NIU averaged 42 points its first three games but only 16 in its last three. Hare went 18-for-31 for 231 yards and two TDs and was intercepted once.
“The issues on offense of only scoring 17 points didn’t fall to (Hare); they fall to all of us,” Carey said. “We’re going to take it as a group and we’re going to each correct our own.”
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