Editor’s Note: The Northern Illinois football team opens its season at Iowa State on Thursday night. Leading up to the game, the Daily Chronicle will provide readers with an occasional story about the Cyclones from the Ames (Iowa) Tribune as a part of a content sharing agreement.
At least Iowa State football coach Paul Rhoads came up with a solution to stop the Northern Illinois running game.
“You try to sneak on a 12th body as many times as you can and get away with it,” Rhoads joked.
Whether the officials let Rhoads get away with it is another story.
When the Cyclones host the Huskies on Thursday, the first job of the defense will be to stop an NIU rushing attack that averaged 195 yards last season and returns first-team all-conference running back Chad Spann.
“They make no hiding of the fact that they like to run the ball and they are going to establish that,” Rhoads said.
Spann and the ground game is the centerpiece of the Huskies’ offense. NIU was 19th nationally last year in rushing yards and has a running back in Spann capable of giving ISU fits all night long.
He ran for 1,038 yards, scored 19 touchdowns last season and helped the Huskies knock off Purdue 28-21 and play right with Wisconsin before falling 28-20.
Spann was named to the preseason watch list for the Doak Walker Award, given to the nation’s top running back. Defensive end Rashawn Parker said the only way to contain Spann is to “swarm and punish him.”
“He is shifty,” Parker said. “He’s fast. He’s strong. He runs downhill, not a lot of side-to-side.”
He’ll also get the ball a lot in the Power-O, a running play that involves a fullback and pulling guard clearing out a running lane. Rhoads is impressed with how well the Huskies execute it.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anyone run it more ways than they do,” Rhoads said. “They are very effective at running the football and they are very physical at running the football.”
There is more to NIU than its run game. The Huskies also rely on a stout defense, which gave up only 21.6 points a game in 2009, to pull out victories.
Rhoads said NIU’s defense plays smart football and does a good job running sideline to sideline.
“You aren’t going to get any cheap plays,” Rhoads said. “They are very disciplined. Overall they are a very, very well-coached football team.”
Safety Tracy Wilson and defensive end Jake Coffman return to anchor the Huskies’ defense. Wilson led the team with 93 tackles last year while Coffman had a team-high 8.5 sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss.
“They are sound in their technique,” Arnaud said. “They don’t get beat a lot and they don’t beat themselves.”
To start the season on the right foot, the Cyclones know they’ll have to be on top of their game, especially when Spann has the football.
“There are no weak spots,” Rhoads said. “This is a very, very sound football program, and we are going to have to play exceptionally well to have an opportunity to win the ball game.”
Bobby La Gesse can be reached at (515) 663-6929 or rlagesse@amestrib.com.
