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EVANSTON – Relentless.
That’s how Northern Illinois coach Rod Carey described his defense’s performance in Saturday’s 23-15 win over Northwestern.
While quarterback Drew Hare’s play off the bench may be what Huskie fans at the game remember, the defense caused problems for the Northwestern offense, which didn’t have a single rushing yard after halftime.
The Huskies finished with five sacks, two each from Rasheen Lemon and Jason Meehan.
NIU’s front four wreaked havoc, and the Huskies were able to stick to their game plan of avoiding the blitz.
“Honestly, it was just, we got a feel for their pass sets and little things that they do,” Ford said. “Once we figured that out, we were able to ball up.”
The Wildcats were able to go 14 for 23 on third-down conversions, but getting in the end zone was another story.
Northwestern put together an impressive drive at the end of the third, capped off by a 19-yard touchdown from Trevor Siemian to Kyle Prater, and got its second score with the game basically out of reach.
“It’s real easy. You’re relentless on defense. You’re just relentless. They don’t get any points for going 14 of 23 on third down, that doesn’t go on the scoreboard,” Carey said. “It goes on a piece of paper right here in front of me, and you know what, that’s what our defense thinks about it. You’ve just got to be relentless and they were today.”
The first turning point of the game came from senior corner Paris Logan, who had a strong day. With the Wildcats at the NIU 38-yard line, Logan made a highlight-reel catch to pick of Siemian in the end zone.
It was the closest Northwestern would get to the end zone during the entire first half, and one of many big plays for the Huskie defense.
“Basically we just played man, I felt like I didn’t play the ball as well last game in the air,” Logan said. “Like Coach Carey said, it’s going to come out to our individual battles and I took that personally and I wanted to win every down, so I just read the receiver’s eyes and turned around and found the ball.”