Huskies roll to victory

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DeKALB – A week after plodding through the motions in a home loss to Idaho, the Northern Illinois defense rediscovered its pulse Saturday afternoon.

Easy enough when you get time to find it.

Lightened practices leading up to the Huskies' Mid-American Conference opener against Western Michigan freshened players' feet and focuses, going a long way toward NIU's 38-3 rout of the Broncos.

"We definitely had more energy than last week. Definitely," junior cornerback Kiaree Daniels said. "We had our legs back, and that made all the difference."

Poor tackles piled up from the start in the Idaho game as NIU (3-2, 1-0 MAC West) sputtered on the heels of an upset victory at Purdue. Northern Illinois coach Jerry Kill wondered whether the team's usual slate of up-tempo, physical workouts took a toll, which led to a surprise for players on Wednesday.

Practicing without pads might sound minor, Daniels said, but he and teammates believed it allowed them to be quicker in their pursuit of Broncos quarterback Tim Hiller, whose late heroics in last year's game guided Western Michigan to a 29-26 victory.

A senior with promising professional prospects, Hiller finished 18 of 35 for 176 yards and 3 interceptions for an offense that rarely found its groove.

"We twisted in the inside and did a good job of stopping the run to make him throw a lot," said Huskies defensive end Jake Coffman. "We just got after it."

Western Michigan (2-3, 1-1) managed only a 40-yard John Potter field goal with 14:13 to play in the second quarter. The Broncos drew to within 7-3 on the kick but came no closer once Huskies tailback Chad Spann revved up his career day.

Spann scored on a 1-yard run with 7:53 to go before intermission, then accelerated into the secondary for a 20-yard touchdown at the 1:17 mark, giving the Huskies a 21-3 lead on Mike Salerno's point-after.

Spann's third touchdown in a row – a 5-yarder on the first possession of the second half – gave him 10 this season, surpassing his team-leading total of eight a year ago. Spann also went over 100 yards for the first time in his career, collecting 132.

"The offensive line has done a great job of keeping those guys off me," Spann said. "When I see an opening, I try to get skinny and get through there."

NIU rushed for 255 yards to Western Michigan's 65 while committing zero turnovers for the second successive game.

Along with lightening the practice load, Kill stressed the importance of ball control in his overall message about intensity.

"If you're not focused 100 percent and ready to play, it doesn't matter who you are, you're not going to win that football game," Kill said. "When you get that, that's when you win championships."

The Huskies started their bid for a MAC West title with an impressive win that snapped a three-game losing streak against the Broncos. NIU will use its bye week to reload for the second half of the season, all while trying to channel the key to Saturday's success.

"Just communicating and coming out and landing that first punch," Daniels said. "Last game we waited, but this time we came right out swinging hard."