Jordan Lynch rushed for a whopping 321 yards
with three touchdowns as No. 18 Northern Illinois closed out a perfect
regular season with a 33-14 win over Western Michigan on Tuesday.
A dark horse Heisman candidate, Lynch carried the ball 27 times and broke his
own NCAA FBS record for rushing yards by a quarterback, and also went 5-for-17
for 39 yards and a touchdown for the Huskies (12-0, 8-0 MAC), who clinched
the West Division and will play either Bowling Green or Buffalo in the MAC
championship game on Dec. 6.
NIU has won 25 straight conference games and 26 straight games at home, both
of which are the nation's longest.
Dareyon Chance and Antoin Scriven each had a rushing touchdown for the Broncos
(1-11, 1-7), who closed out their first season under P.J. Fleck with three
straight losses.
Northern Illinois got into scoring position on its first touch and lined up
for a field goal, but Matthew Sims missed the 34-yarder to keep the game
scoreless.
The Huskies' second touch, though, bore fruit as the 8-play, 80-yard drive was
capped when Lynch tossed a pass to the left corner of the end zone where Juwan
Brescacin out-worked the defender for a 10-yard score. Lynch had runs of 19
and 11 yards prior to the touchdown.
Western Michigan countered with a long drive to tie the game, as the 12-play,
63-yard march was capped when Chance took a pitch out to the right and pushed
through the pile for a 1-yard score four minutes into the second.
Northern Illinois came right back, though, to take the lead for good thanks to
the legs of Lynch, who kept the ball himself and ran up the middle before
cutting to the left on a 29-yard score with 9:43 left in the first half.
Following a quick three-and-out from Western Michigan, Lynch scored again on a
similar run, this one from 36 yards out. The extra point was missed, though,
and it was a 20-7 game with 7:31 to play.
The last play of the half was Western Michigan's Andrew Haldeman line up for a
37-yard field goal, but it was blocked.
The Broncos pulled off an onside kick to start the second half, recovering
just past midfield, but failed on a 4th-and-1 to turn the ball over.
The Huskies followed that with an 18-play, 68-yard drive that covered almost 7
1/2 minutes and was finished on a 23-yard field goal from Sims for a 23-7
advantage with 5:30 to play.
Later in the third, Northern Illinois got the Western Michigan 37 and the next
snap saw Lynch take it all the way for a 30-7 lead with 1:36 left in the
third.
Sims hit a 32-yard field goal in the fourth, while Scriven punched the ball in
from a yard out for Western Michigan later in the fourth to make the game a
bit more respectable.
