Northern Illinois redshirt sophomore quarterback Josh Holst felt another opportunity slipped away at Mississippi State on Saturday afternoon, a 38-10 loss to the Bulldogs.

With the Huskies down 21-10 with 8:41 remaining in the third quarter, they had a chance to get closer with a potential touchdown.

Holst dropped back and tossed a pass attempt to the end zone that was picked off by Bulldog Isaac Smith.

That kept NIU off the scoreboard and enabled MSU to drive down for a field goal to increase its lead to 24-10.

“I missed the post in the end zone that went for a turnover and that can’t happen,” Holst siad. “Even with that, you’ve got to flush it.”

The interception was a big play in the game that prevented the Huskies from pushing another team in a Power 4 Conference to the limit or even have a chance to win. The Bulldogs went on to outscore their visitors from DeKalb County 24-0 in the second half, 17 coming after the interception.

NIU head coach Thomas Hammock could not help but think of what might have been if Holst connected for a touchdown on that third-quarter play.

“We had an opportunity in the second half and had a wide-open receiver,” Hammock said. “If we hit that, the game is 21-17 at that point and maybe you are playing a different game with different opportunities.

“I thought we stayed in the fight as long as we could. We played a good first half. They wear you down and we couldn’t stay on the field offensively. I think that kind of hurt us defensively and put us in some bad spots.”

Hammock was surprised to see that his offense could only convert 1-of-9 on third down and that concerned him.NIU entered the game converting 32.4% of its third downs, ranked 112th in the country.

The Huskies had 267 yards of total offense, it was tough for Hammock not see them consistently move the football.

“Obviously that is nowhere near good enough,” Hammock said of the third-down conversions.

The Huskies entered averaging 279 yard per game, 125th in the country. They were averaging 14 points per game, ranked 126th nationally.

Holst, a Marengo graduate, ended the game completing 14-of-23 pass attempts for 135 yards and his first touchdown of the season.

After putting up 170 yards of total offense in the first half, Holst liked the production.

“It was a great game offensively even though we only scored 10 points,” Holst said. “I feel like we had a great game. We controlled what we can control. There were some things we couldn’t control and we moved on to the next play.”

NIU wide receiver DeAree Rogers has not lost faith in his quarterback despite the interception.

He looks forward to getting back on the practice field and next game against San Diego State with Holst in the huddle.

“Josh has done a good job of what the coaches say,” Rogers said. “Now that the offense is starting to click, he looks really comfortable back there in the pocket before the game he said he felt good.”