What to watch for when NIU, Kent State meet for the MAC title Saturday

DeKALB – The NIU football team will look for its sixth MAC Championship on Saturday when the Huskies head to Ford Field in Detroit to take on Kent State in a rematch of a game from early November.

The Flashes (7-5) won that game in a shootout, 52-47 – although NIU (8-4) trailed by as many as 18 points in the loss.

Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. on ESPN.

Scouting the Flashes

The Flashes are second in the league in scoring average, putting up 34.2 points a game – obviously exceeding that last time around against NIU. The Huskies are 10th in scoring defense, allowing 33.5 points a game.

The Flashes get it done on the ground with a league-best 247.3 yards a game. Marquez Cooper is third in the league in rushing with 1,075 yards and had 173 against NIU last time around. Xavier Williams also topped 100 against the Huskies.

The Flashes swapped out defensive coordinators the week after the NIU win after a 54-30 loss to Central Michigan, firing Tom Kaufman and promoting cornerbacks coach C.J. Cox.

“Anytime you make a decision to change coordinators, they’re going to have their own things they’d like to put on the defense,” NIU coach Thomas Hammock said. “We’ll get into the game Saturday and see how they want to play us, and then we’ll have to adjust.”

The Flashes have only won one conference title before, in 1972. Their only other appearance in the MAC Championship Game was in 2012, a 44-37 loss to the Huskies in double overtime.

“We hear about it, obviously. Everybody talks about it in camp,” Kent State cornerback K. J. Sherald said. “We just try not to think about it. ... Whatever happens on Saturday, happens. We know we can control it in practice, and Saturday we’ll be prepared.”

3 things to watch

A broken record for the NIU offense?

Both Hammock and Kent State coach Sean Lewis said facing a team for a second time in a season presents a challenge.

“Every game is its own entity,” Hammock said. “Just because you did something the last time doesn’t mean it’s going to be the outcome this time. We have to do the things that make us play well, and that starts with our fundamentals and techniques, not beating ourselves and not hurting ourselves by turning the ball over.”

The NIU offense had a pair of record-breaking performances in the loss. Rocky Lombardi became the first quarterback in school history to pass for 500 yards in a game, and Trayvon Rudolph had a school- and MAC-record 309 receiving yards.

“I’m going to call Dr. Steinbrecher, see if we can play with 12 with all these playmakers they have,” Lewis said. “Hopefully that will help us limit some of these explosive plays. No, but we’ve been dialed in on the fundamentals.”

It was by far the best air attack the Huskies posted all season, as they’ve run the ball much more – they are second in the conference in rushing yards a game at 231.6, behind only Kent State.

“That’s the stress and the challenge of playing really good players and really good coaches,” Lewis said. “They have a balanced attack, they lead with the run that forces you to commit numbers in the box. Then you have to do a great job picking your spots of when you’re playing coverage. And they do a really good job of staying on schedule.”

Kent State offense

Like Lewis, Hammock said his opponent’s offense is built to cause stress. To combat that, the team has been using a unique strategy in practice.

“To simulate that we’ve tried to add more footballs to the field, to be honest with you,” Hammock said. “The quarterback does a great job. ... It can be a run, it can be a pass on every play. So we’ve added more footballs in practice to make sure just because it’s a run play, we can throw a ball out you need to be able to defend. I think our kids have embraced that and helped enhance our practice.”

He said the new wrinkle keeps the team fully locked in.

“Sometimes when you go into practice you say this is run emphasis, maybe the corners are engaged, maybe they are not,” Hammock said. “To make sure everybody is engaged we can always test them when someone is throwing the ball out to them to make sure they’re in proper coverage and doing the right things.”

No pressure

Hammock is heading to his second MAC Championship Game. He was the running backs coach in 2005 under Joe Novak.

He said he’s told the players they should be feeling no pressure heading into Saturday.

“Nobody thought we would be here,” Hammock said. “We’ve beaten the odds, now we have 60 minutes to try and beat the odds one more time.”

Linebacker Lance Deveaux, who played on the 2018 MAC championship team, agreed.

“Playing football, you’ve got have fun out there,” Deveaux said. “But I think guys are definitely looking forward to it. It’s a big game. For us to be back in the MAC Championship after being there in 2018 is a good feeling I think guys are just taking everything in and enjoying the moment.”

All season, Hammock has focused on being one point better than the opposition. He said the point of the mantra is to help relieve some pressure – student-athletes have plenty of stressors already, he said.

“If all you know is that you have to score one more point than your opponent, that should be your only focus,” Hammock said. “That should be the only thing you’re concerned about. ... Football is meant to be fun. Have fun.”

Pulse of the fans

A quick breakdown

The last time these teams met was barely a month ago, with the Flashes rolling and holding off an NIU comeback.

On paper, it seems that the Flashes are poised for another win, coming in as the favorite. But if the Huskies have proved anything, especially in MAC play, it’s to never count them out – especially when it seems like they don’t have a chance.

Then throw in the fact the MAC title games rarely turnout how they’re expected to. So maybe Rocky Lombardi throws for 600 yards, maybe Jay Ducker and Antario Brown each run for 200 yards, maybe it’s a 17-10 defensive slugfest.

Anything is possible. Except for that last one.

Prediction

NIU 45, Kent State 42















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