Huskies' comeback bid falls short in final minutes

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ANNAPOLIS, MD - Northern Illinois University kicker Chris Nendick put his knee to the ground, covered his head and walked slowly off the field. Offensive lineman Chris Acevedo expressed his anger by shaking his hand violently. As the lone two senior starters, Nendick and Acevedo watched any chance for an upset bid in their final road game vanish when Nendick's 42-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left. Under the direction of Joe Novak, the NIU program has long forgotten the memory of a well-deserved moral victory. With 18 starters out for the season and relying mainly on underclassmen, the Huskies battled the Poinsettia bowl-bound Navy to the final whistle. With questions about his future becoming an issue, Novak expressed pride and admiration for his team following Saturday's 35-24 loss to Navy. “I'm very proud of their effort,” Novak said. “This football team (Navy) is hard to defend. The kids gave great effort, but it wasn't good enough tonight. That's all we can ask.” All signs indicated an ugly showing at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The Huskies had to play without starting quarterback Dan Nicholson, who suffered a concussion last week. Redshirt sophomore Ryan Morris played tentative and failed to move the Huskies in his only start this year against Western Michigan. The Midshipmen lead the country in rushing and had punted 12 times in 10 games. The Huskies bucked the long odds by not getting intimidated by Navy and the historical stadium. The Huskies had an opportunity to get to within one score before Nendick's field goal with 1:33 left missed wide left. Novak said the Huskies planned on attempting an onside kick if Nendick made the field goal. “We figured we needed two scores,” Novak said. “It was a long fourth down so we decided to kick it. I thought Nendick would make that one. I really did.” The Huskies showed plenty of fight in the 11-point loss. They converted all seven of their fourth down attempts, won the time of possession battle (34:34 to 25:26), tied a season-high with seven successful third down tries and held Navy to 21 points in the final three quarters. Justin Anderson, who was questionable with a knee injury, was an unstoppable force Saturday, rushing 39 times for a game-high 140 yards and leading all receivers with seven receptions for 36 yards. Anderson added a 1-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. “Their defense was better than we thought,” Anderson said. “I was just excited because this is a special place to play. My knee was iffy, but once I got in and ran around I got warm.” Northern Illinois wide receiver Matt Simon inched closer to the 1,000-yard mark. The junior had another big game with five catches for 100 yards. Simon put the Huskies on the board first with a 46-yard touchdown early in the game. He hauled in a 24-yard touchdown pass from Morris in the third quarter. Morris showed considerable improvement from his first start, completing 21-of-35 passes for 206 yards with two TD passes and one interception. Morris helped keep Navy's high-powered offense off the field by engineering five drives of nine plays or longer. Anderson said he saw a different Morris in the huddle Saturday. “He made a couple of plays that even I was shocked at,” Anderson said. “He played at a high level and had a good game.” In the first half, the Midshipmen's triple-option attack marched up and down Jack Stephens Field. Whether it was Zerbin Singleton, Shun White or Adam Ballard carrying the ball, the depleted and injured Huskie defense looked powerless trying to contain Navy's running game. The Midshipmen gained 179 of their 359 rushing yards in the first two quarters. After halftime, the Huskies stuck to their lanes and played good assignment-defense to bottle up Navy. The Midshipmen tallied 189 yards in the final two quarters. Navy tied a season-high with three punts, and scored twice in their final seven drives. Defensive end Larry English said the Huskies must build on Saturday's showing if they want to knock off Ball State next week. “We thought we had a good scheme, but they did some things different,” English said. “We've got to get a win. By any means necessary we have to get a win next week. It left a sour taste in our mouths and we have to do whatever we can to get a win against Ball State.” Bobby Narang can be reached at bnarang@daily-chronicle.com.