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| Northern Illinois's Ricky Crider is tackled by Iowa State's Jeremy Reeves during the second quarter of Thursday's game against Iowa State at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa. (Beck Diefenbach – bdiefenbach@daily-chronicle.com) |
AMES, Iowa – New year. New quarterback. Same result.
Northern Illinois kept close with Iowa State late into the fourth quarter Thursday, but for the seventh consecutive season the Huskies lost their season opener, this time suffering a 27-10 loss to the Cyclones in front of 43,116 people at Jack Trice Stadium.
The NIU offense sputtered behind junior quarterback DeMarcus Grady, who replaced two-year incumbent Chandler Harnish after a battle for the starting position during training camp.
Grady was 14-of-29 passing for 93 yards and threw three interceptions, two of which led to Iowa State scoring drives. Meanwhile, NIU failed to capitalize on three Iowa State turnovers.
“We just couldn’t make a play, and sometimes you just have to make a play to win a game, and we just didn’t make a play,” NIU coach Jerry Kill said. “Give them credit for not letting us make a play, and we need to find some people that are going to step up and make ’em.”
Kill, who in his third season at NIU has also lost to Wisconsin (2009) and Minnesota (2008) in season openers, said his team lacked a sense of urgency Thursday, especially on defense.
Behind the dynamic duo of quarterback Austen Arnaud, tailback Alexander Robinson and an impenetrable offensive line, the Cyclones offense gained 279 of its 403 total yards in the first half to take a 17-0 halftime lead.
“They sped up and we sped up, and we didn’t have to speed up,” Kill said. “And that’s including coaches. We didn’t have to do that. We just needed to calm down a little bit.
“I think they had us scrambling a little bit early in the game, and we didn’t really settle down until the third quarter.”
The Huskies outgained Iowa State on the ground 156-138 for the game, led by 80 yards from Chad Spann. But again, it was the Cyclones who made the big play.
Robinson (97 rushing yards) broke the game open with a 63-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter to give Iowa State a 14-0 lead. Iowa State quarterback picked apart the Huskies secondary, completing 27 of 36 passes for 265 yards.
“They caught us off guard a lot of times," NIU defensive end Sean Progar said.
But Arnaud's two interceptions, one on the NIU 24-yard line, let the Huskies lurk for much of the second half.
After missing two field goals in the first half - Michael Cklamovski missed from 49 and 33 yards - NIU finally got on the scoreboard when freshman Matthew Sims split the uprights on a 19-yard attempt with 9:53 left in the third quarter.
Grady then had a one-yard touchdown plunge cap a 40-yard drive with 8:51 remaining in the game to put the Huskies within a touchdown of the Cyclones.
But Iowa State scored the following possession, on Robinson's five-yard touchdown run, to put the game out of reach at 24-10 with 5:05 remaining.
“I think the big thing we have to do is go back and correct the mistakes we made," Kill said. "We have a chance to have a very good football team. We just have to clean some things up, play with a little more sense of urgency early."
