Huskies strong up front

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Members of the NIU defense including Jordan Delegal, Kiaree Daniels and Tracy Wilson tackle Western Michigan running back Aaron Winchester. (Rob Winner – rwinner@daily-chronicle.com)

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DeKALB – Alex Kube knows exactly what he’s going to get when Ball State running back MiQuale Lewis carries the ball today.

“He runs hard,” said Kube, a junior linebacker for Northern Illinois. “He’s not one of those guys that’s trying to [move around and] find a hole. If somebody’s there he’s going to try and run through them and make his own hole. We’re going to have to tackle physically.”

If the Huskies (6-3, 4-1 MAC West) can do that against Ball State (1-8, 1-4 MAC West) today in a game that kicks off at 5 p.m. at Huskie Stadium, they’ll likely stay in contention in the MAC West and notch their seventh victory, which should be good enough to get them into a bowl for the second straight season.

Lewis, a senior, has rushed for 724 yards this season, including a memorable 301-yard game against Eastern Michigan. At 5-foot-6 and 193 pounds, Lewis’ combination of a low center of gravity and speed make him one of the toughest running backs to bring down in the conference.

“I don’t see too many one-person tackles,” Kube said.

Lewis played a big supporting role in last year’s 45-14 dismantling of the Huskies, rushing for 119 yards and a touchdown. He also had a backbreaking 64-yard run in that game, just as the Huskies had cut it 21-7 in the third quarter.

“MiQuale Lewis is a great running back,” said NIU coach Jerry Kill. “In my opinion, from what I have seen since I have been here, he’s as good as anybody in the league. We have to stop the run. That’s what concerns me.”

But this season, NIU’s rush defense has been stout. The Huskies are first in the MAC in rush defense and have bottled up opposing rush offenses to the tune of 104.2 yards a game on the ground.

Kube said the big key to that has been improvement in technique, even something as little as a good first step.

“Youur first step, when it’s wrong, right away you’ve got to recover, you’ve got to use some different technique that you haven’t been taught,” he said. “So if you’re taking the right first step like they’re telling us to do and we’re looking at the right keys, now it’s on us.”

Kill said it’s also helped that some of NIU’s younger players on the defensive line have grown as the season has progressed.

“You’ve got guys like [nose guard] Nabal [Jefferson] and [defensive end Sean] Progar, [Jake] Coffman and [Brandon] Bice have had plenty of reps, the rest are like babies,” Kill said. “Now you have to consider that they’re getting towards their sophomore year. You can’t keep saying they’re freshmen or redshirt freshmen.

“I think the more you play, the better you get.”

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