NIU could not carry over the good vibes from the Ball State win.

The Huskies were outplayed in all three phases at Toledo on Wednesday night, resulting in a humbling 42-3 loss at the Glass Bowl. The issues began on the opening kickoff and didn’t stop until the final seconds ticked off the clock.

The loss is NIU’s fourth consecutive to Toledo, and the Huskies fall to 2-7 (1-4 Mid-American Conference) on the season. They will stay home for the holidays, missing out on a bowl game for the first time since 2022. NIU is winless away from DeKalb this season, with its last road win coming at Western Michigan exactly 365 days ago.

The Huskies get one more chance to end that six-game streak of futility next week at UMass.

Here are five takeaways from the game.

Offensive woes persist

NIU entered Wednesday ranked 132nd out of 134 in scoring offense, averaging less than 14 points per game. The picture didn’t get any clearer at Toledo, as the Huskies were limited to 203 yards – 64 coming on the final drive.

Quarterbacks Josh Holst and Brady Davidson combined to complete 11 of 29 pass attempts for 141 yards. Chavon Wright and Elijah Porter led the Huskies with 21 rushing yards.

NIU rushed for 62 yards, a season low. The previous low was 113 yards against San Diego State.

The Huskies had eight plays of 10 yards or more, with a long of 41 yards. They only crossed the 50-yard line three times, and one of them was the final possession of the game.

This is the third time NIU has been held to single-digit scoring this season.

Defense can’t keep pace with Rockets

Toledo owns the nation’s No. 3 defense – and it showed. NIU isn’t on the same level, but the Huskies did rank fifth in the MAC entering Wednesday. Their defense has kept them in several games as the offense sputtered.

Not at Toledo.

The Rockets torched NIU for 443 yards and 23 first downs. They averaged 7.1 yards per play, 4.6 yards per carry and 12.4 yards per pass. Toledo finished 9 of 14 on third down.

NIU had zero sacks, two tackles for loss and one pass breakup.

Toledo led 28-3 at halftime, recording 249 yards on just 34 plays. Gleason completed 19 of 22 passes for 214 yards with one touchdown pass and another TD on the ground.

He finished 25 of 31 for 309 yards and two touchdowns. Toledo used a committee of running backs to rush for 134 yards on 29 carries.

Special teams bright spots

The most noteworthy performances of the night came from the feet of NIU’s kicker and punter, which usually isn’t great news.

Andrew Glass made a 50-yard field goal on the Huskies’ first possession of the night, and punter Jake Ference booted the ball eight times, averaging 42.1 yards and pinning Toledo inside the 10 once. He had two punts over 50 yards.

Familiar face

It didn’t take long for former Huskie Trayvon Rudolph to make his presence felt.

The fifth-year senior wide receiver returned the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown. He finished with two receptions for eight yards and one carry for four yards.

Rudolph is Toledo’s second-leading receiver this season, with 30 receptions for 341 yards and a touchdown. In four seasons at NIU, he caught 153 passes, the ninth-most in program history, for 2,047 yards and 10 touchdowns. Rudolph had a 14-catch game against Kent State in 2021, the second-most receptions in a single game for the Huskies. The former walk-on had 474 career rushing yards and nearly 1,500 kick return yards.

End of an era

Wednesday marked the end of the NIU-Toledo rivalry for the foreseeable future, as the Huskies transition to the Mountain West next season. The rivals have played every year since 1997.

Dating to 2005, NIU has defeated Toledo more often than any other team. In the past 21 meetings, the Huskies are 11-10 against the Rockets, costing them MAC West titles (or at least a share) in 2005, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2021. NIU won six in a row from 2010-2015.

Nationally, it’s an anonymous series. But in the MAC, NIU-Toledo has produced indelible images and storylines. Since 1999, the loser of the game has lost out on a division championship 13 times, the same number of times the winner of the Ohio State-Michigan game has played the role of division or conference spoiler.