Huskies go on attack to open MAC
DEKALB — Marcus Childers threw three touchdown passes and Northern Illinois’ defense suffocated Kent State’s offense in a 24- 3 win on Saturday in the Huskies’ Mid-American Conference opener.
NIU ( 3- 2, 1- 0) held Kent State to 29 yards passing and intercepted Dustin Crum once and George Bollas twice.
“I thought our defense did a great job of harassing the quarterback and not allowing them to get anything established,” NIU coach Rod Carey said. “Our defense had complete control over that game, and it was an outstanding performance by them. We played with great effort and great energy. Some execution things we need to do better. We knew it was going to be a four- quarter game, and it was a four- quarter game.”
Crum rushed for 77 of Kent State’s 131 total yards. The Huskies’ defense also forced and recovered a fumble and held Kent State ( 1- 5, 0- 2) to 2- for16 on third- down conversions.
Childers, meanwhile, threw for 114 yards and rushed for 65. He threw touchdown passes of 10, 25 and two yards to Spencer Tears, Shane Wimann and Jordan Huff, respectively.
Daniel Santacaterina started at quarterback before being relieved by Childers.
“We have to stop turning the ball over on offense, and when we stop, things will get easier for us,” Carey said. “We put in Marcus because it was hard to throw it and catch it with the rain coming down sideways. He took us down and got that first touchdown, Santacaterina came back in and made a mistake, so we decided to go with Marcus from there. Right now, I don’t know any more going forward. I have great confidence in both guys.”
NIU leads the all- time series against Kent State with a 21- 7 record and has won 21 of 22 games against the MAC’s Eastern Division opponents since 2010.