Hammock, Deveaux chalk up defensive woes to competition level after 63-10 loss at Michigan

ANN ARBOR, Michigan – When Donovan Edwards zoomed into the end zone in the third quarter, he thrust Michigan over the 50-point mark in a game against NIU the Wolverines would go on to win, 63-10.

Not only did Saturday mark the second straight loss for the Huskies (1-2), it was the second straight game in which they have given up 50 points or more, off the heels of a 50-43 home loss to Wyoming.

It’s the first time they’ve given up 50 points or more in back-to-back games since 1995 (a 55-19 loss to Cincinnati and a 58-20 loss at Florida).

Third-year NIU coach Thomas Hammock said that’s more to do with the level of the Huskies’ competition than anything else. Michigan improved to 3-0 and moved up from No. 25 to 19 in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 Poll, while Wyoming also is 3-0 after blowing out Ball State, 45-12, on Saturday. And Georgia Tech, against whom NIU scored 22 in an upset in Week 1, held No. 9 Clemson to 14 in a near-upset Saturday.

“We played three really, really good football teams,” Hammock said. “That’s the reality, right? For us, we have to figure out how we match up against people who are similar to us. We have yet to see that.”

The Huskies face Football Championship Subdivision opponent Maine (1-2) next week, then host Eastern Michigan (2-1) to open Mid-American Conference play.

Linebacker Lance Deveaux said the team has fought through all three games this year. They trailed late at Georgia Tech before pulling out a 22-21 win, and they were down 26 points to Wyoming but took the lead in the fourth quarter before falling in the final minutes.

“One thing I can say is these guys fight,” Deveaux said. “No matter the outcome, no matter how the game is going, these guys are going to fight until the end. I’m really optimistic about that going forward.”

The Wolverines scored touchdowns on their first nine drives, then turned it over on downs the last two drives in NIU territory.

Michigan finished with 606 yards of total offense, including 233 in the air a week after only 44 total passing yards in a win over Washington. Michigan also ran for 373 yards despite having more passing yards at halftime.

Hammock said it was as clear in person as it was on tape that Michigan is the best team NIU is going to play this year.

“When I looked at the tape this is a very good football team,” Hammock said. “I’m not going to take anything away from them. They beat us soundly in all three phases. And that’s on me. That’s not on our players, nothing they can do. That was just a better football team.”

The Huskies’ defense had only two tackles for losses in the game, one each by Makhi Nelson-Douglas and Dillon Thomas.

Deveaux led the team with eight tackles.

“I feel like we could have done a better job of tackling,” Deveaux said. “We just got to look back at the film, clean up the mistakes that we made, and just got to move forward.”

Like Deveaux, Hammock said the Huskies will learn from the loss then move on.

“I think, obviously, they were more physical than us. I don’t know what else to say,” Hammock said. “But I will say this. We battled. We competed. We fought. We didn’t quit. We didn’t turn it down. This is the best team we’ll play, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they commit to the style they are playing they win a lot of football games.”

He also said the 53-point loss can serve as a life lesson.

“It’s OK to say a team is just better,” Hammock said. “That’s life. There’s adversity, all those things normal people go through. ‘Hey, this guy was better today. But we can be better than someone else tomorrow.’




















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