Five takeaways from NIU’s 39-10 win against Eastern Michigan

YPSILANTI, Michigan — Staring a five-game losing streak in the face, Northern Illinois University put together without a doubt its most complete performance of the season on Saturday afternoon at Eastern Michigan’s Rynearson Stadium, winning 39-10.

The Huskies (2-5 overall, 1-2 MAC) scored an early defensive touchdown, broke off some big touchdown runs on the legs of Anatrio Brown and Harrison Waylee and they also saw the return of quarterback Rocky Lombardi. The defense was pretty impressive too, holding the Eagles to just 226 yards of total offense.

Here are the main takeaways from this week’s MAC contest:

Defense makes the first big play of the day

Looking for an upset win on the road, the Huskies received a big play from its defense early on.

After their offense quickly stalled out on their first drive, Tom Foley pinned Eastern Michigan back on its own 5-yard line.

Just three plays later, the defensive line deflected Eagle quarterback Taylor Powell’s pass, which James Ester was not only able to haul in, but he fell just inside the endzone for the first touchdown of the day; barely two minutes into the contest.

Lombardi makes his return

Lombardi had missed the Huskies’ last three games since being injured against Vanderbilt on Sept. 17. Justin Lynch got the nod as the starter, but Lombardi made his return to the field 3 minutes into the game, completing a pass on a third-and-11 to Cole Tucker for a 14-yard gain. His role only increased as the half went on, and he was mostly effective, completing 9-of-12 passes for 99 yards.

In the closing moments of the second quarter, he completed three passes, including a key 26-yarder to Kacper Rutkiewicz, setting up a 39-yard John Richardson field-goal that gave the Huskies a 20-7 lead going into the locker room. With the ground game rolling in the second half, Lombardi’s role diminished some, but his return was certainly a big boost for the team.

Sophomore quarterback Ethan Hampton had plenty of struggles filling in for injured Rocky Lombardi in recent weeks, throwing six interceptions in the last four games, including four last week in a 52-32 loss to Toledo. He injured his wrist in the third quarter of that game, school officials said, and was unavailable

Wildcat formation gives offense a spark

After introducing it last week, Northern Illinois continued to roll out a wildcat formation on offense on Saturday at Rynearson Stadium. Brown and Harrison Waylee took the direct snaps, and that proved to be quite fruitful. The biggest play out of the formation in the first half came from Brown, when he broke free from the Eastern Michigan defense for a 47-yard touchdown run that put the Huskies ahead 14-7 with 4:03 to play in the opening quarter.

Brown also had a 6-yard touchdown run out of the formation, converting a third-and-one into a score that made it 29-10 in the final minute of the third quarter. Waylee put the exclamation point on things when he erupted for a 76-yard touchdown run with 7:14 to play.

Defense shines in second half to stifle thoughts off EMU comeback

In the defense’s best game since a shutout against Akron four years ago, the unit especially excelled in the second half. Devonte O’Malley tracked down EMU quarterback Taylor Powell for a big 9-yard sack, forcing an early punt.

While the Huskies did give up a 46-yard field-goal to EMU its next passion, the defense maintained its disruptive ways, putting plenty of pressure on Powell and deflecting passes. One such example was a big sack by Michael Kennedy, when he fought through a block to get to Powell for a big sack on third down to force an EMU punt with about nine minutes to go. Izayah Green-May also had a late-game sack on a fourth down that allowed NIU offense to run the rest of the time off the clock.

The special teams also made a big play after Antario Brown’s third-quarter touchdown. They forced a fumble, which Joey Rattin pounced on. The drive set up John Richardson’s fourth field goal of the game.

Richardson steady with field goals

Northern Illinois kicker John Richardson has been garnering attention in recent weeks for his knack of successful onside kicks. The usually reliable placekicker had some struggles earlier this season, including a pair of close-range misses in the Huskies’ double overtime loss to Ball State back on Oct. 1.

Richardson helped alleviate those woes with a steady performance Saturday, drilling field goals of 41, 39, 33 and 28 yards without a miss.