NIU learns from Iowa State

 Northern Illinois senior safety Mike Sobol succinctly summarized the Huskies downfall during a 27-10 season-opening loss to Iowa State.

“Our coach told us out there and it kind of made sense. We went out there in the first half kind of looking to see how good Iowa State was instead of just playing our game,” Sobol said. “We think of ourselves as a good defense, but we didn’t go out there in the first half playing like a good defense. We were taking what Iowa State was giving and trying to figure out how good they were instead of just doing our thing.”

The Huskies fell behind 17-0 at the half, when NIU coach Jerry Kill “got loud” with his players on the field and in the locker room. The Huskies seemed to respond, narrowing the Cyclones lead to 17-10.

“I think he kind of just woke us up, and in the second half we played with a little more juice and little more energy than we played with in the first half," junior center Scott Wedige said.

“It was hard. We thought we had a good chance to win. But I mean it was a good learning experience."

The Huskies (0-1) can’t afford another slow start during Saturday’s home opener against North Dakota, a Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) team. The Fighting Sioux (0-1) lost to Idaho 45-0 last week.

“We know we got to get a win to get our season going,” Sobol said. “That’s our mindset right now. We need to get a W and get a win under our belts, so we can start rolling.”

- Jeremy Werner