Nov. 17, 2007

Final Stats

Final Stats Book in PDF Format

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Northern Illinois mounted a valiant effort on both offense and defense against a bowl-bound Navy squad, but fell short of its upset bid, falling 35-24 to the Midshipmen in Annapolis Saturday.

With the loss, the Huskies fell to 2-9 on the season, while Navy improved to 7-4. NIU plays host to Ball State next Saturday at Huskie Stadium to close out its 2007 campaign.

NIU sophomore Justin Anderson ran for 140 yards on 39 carries and added seven catches for 36 yards, while back-up quarterback Ryan Morris threw for 206 yards and two touchdowns on 21-of-35 passing to lead the Huskie offense.

After falling behind by two touchdowns in the first half, the Huskies pulled within four points at 28-24 on Chris Nendick's 42-yard field goal with 11:53 left in the game. But Navy responded with a 10-play, 68-yard drive that ended with Zerbin Singleton scoring from 12-yards out for his third touchdown of the day to give the Midshipmen an insurmountable 35-24 with 7:51 remaining.

Defensively, Northern Illinois held a high-scoring Navy team five points below its scoring average and forced a Midshipmen team that had punted only 12 times all year to punt three times, A week ago, Navy scored 74 points in a win against North Texas.

Freshman safety Alex Kube, the leading freshman tackler in the nation entering the game, collected a team season best 15 tackles to pass the 100-tackle mark for the season.

Northern Illinois got off to its best start of the season with a touchdown on the game's opening drive, the first time all season NIU has scored a TD on its first possession. Morris hit Matt Simon on a 46-yard completion to put the Huskies ahead, 7-0.

But the Midshipmen struck back when Singleton scored the first of his three touchdowns on the day on a one-yard run. The speedy running back, who gained 101 yards on just 11 carries on the day, gave the Midshipmen a 14-7 lead on a 26-yard run at the 4:48 mark of the first quarter.

Navy extended its lead to 21-7 midway through the second quarter before NIU responded with a nine-play, 47-yard drive just before halftime, Anderson scoring on a fourth and inches play to pull the Huskies within seven at 21-14 at halftime.

Navy opened the second half with an 80-yard scoring drive to extend the lead once again until Morris hit Simon on a 24-yard scoring toss to pull NIU within seven at 28-21. Simon caught five passes for 100 yards on the day to record his fourth 100-yard receiving day of the season.

With his seven catches, Anderson established a new NIU single season record for catches by a running back with 45, breaking a 44-year old record set by Jack Dean in 1963. The Huskies also completed all seven of its fourth-down conversion tries in the game.

Navy quarterback Jared Bryant completed just three-of-six passes but led the Midshipmen with 139 yards rushing on 27 rushes.

--NIU--