DeKALB – The NIU football team won on a last-second John Richardson field goal as time expired in a 30-29 win over Ball State on Wednesday in a Mid-American Conference game.

NIU (7-3, 5-1) leads the MAC West by 1½ games over Central Michigan (5-4, 3-2). Ball State is 5-5, 3-3 in the MAC.

Here are five takeaways from the game:

Final two minutes go back-and-forth

Down 27-26, Ball State drove to the NIU 31 with 1:52 left. Facing a third-and-10, the Cardinals’ Drew Plitt’s pass was incomplete. Ball State went for the field goal with Jacob Lewis, who earlier missed a 24-yard attempt.

But this time Lewis was true, and the Cardinals led, 29-27, with 1:43 left.

NIU started its drive with two timeouts to try to win and got down to the Ball State 23. The Cardinals were called for an unsportsmanlike penalty on third-and-2, giving the Huskies a first down. NIU called a timeout with 0:03 left to set up kicker John Richardson in the middle of the field.

Richardson’s 32-yard field goal was good, and the Huskies celebrated on the field as time expired.

NIU’s first lead late (but not late enough) in the fourth

NIU mounted a 14-play, 69-yard drive that ate 7:22 off the clock that gave them a 27-26 lead with 2:42 left in the game. It was the first time they led.

Facing a fourth-and-2, Rocky Lombardi was under pressure but lobbed a basketball-style pass to Clint Ratkovich for 5 yards. Then on third-and-10 at the Ball State 41, Lombardi found Cole Tucker for 14 yards. The Huskies converted another third down when Ratkovich ran for 2 yards on third-and-2.

Two plays later, Jay Ducker completed the drive with a 10-yard scoring run.

Wild end to first half

A roller coaster of a final 30 seconds led to a tie game after one half, after Ball State had led by 10 twice.

It started when NIU burned its final timeout and was facing a second-and-4 at its own 42. But Lombardi found Tucker for 58 yards up the middle to tie the score at 17 with 29 seconds left.

But Ball State drove, with Plitt launching a 45-yard pass to Will Jones that JaVaughn Byrd appeared to have intercepted, but Jones ripped it away for the catch. The Cardinals had two shots at the end zone from inside the 20 but couldn’t get in, so they attempted a field goal. Jake Chanove missed the 24-yarder.

Safety dance

NIU got the ball to start the third quarter and a chance to take the lead for the first time, but instead the Huskies found themselves down two scores quickly.

NIU went three-and-out, and the punt by Matt Ference was blocked for a safety and a 19-17 lead for Ball State. The Cardinals then cruised down the field, never facing a third down in scoring a TD on a 2-yard run by Justin Hall.

Hold on a minute

Calls against the Huskies’ offensive line proved costly throughout the game. In the second quarter, Antario Brown ran for 7 yards and a touchdown, but a personal foul call of a leg sweep away from the ball negated the score. NIU settled for a field goal, which made the score 17-10 with 2:14 left.

Then to start the third, Ducker had a 20-yard run on first down called back because of a holding penalty. That led to the Ball State safety and nine straight Cardinals points.