Football by the numbers: Northern Illinois
With the season-opener under a week away, the DI takes a look at the most recent Northern Illinois team.
Northern Illinois football players run out on to the field before a game.
August 28, 2018
Like Iowa, Northern Illinois has not played a game yet in 2018, so here’s a look at some key stats from the Huskies’ 2017 season.
Average points per fourth quarter – 5.3
To put it simply, the Huskies were not a fourth-quarter team last season. In fact, they got worse each quarter as the game went on.
Northern Illinois scored 115 points in the first quarter during the season and 114 points in the second quarter. Things dropped significantly in the second half, however.
The Huskies’ scoring fell to 72 points in the third quarter before hitting the bottom at 69 in the fourth.
But it’s not as though Northern Illinois doesn’t have a solid offense. The Huskies had five different players with at least 250 yards and 3 touchdowns on the ground, with Jordan Huff leading the way. Huff racked up 740 yards and 4 touchdowns in 2017 despite playing in just nine games.
Even though Northern Illinois failed to be effective toward the end of games, it scored 376 points over the course of the year — 9 more than the Hawkeyes.
Scoring defense — 22 points per game
The Huskies had the best defense in the MAC in 2017, allowing just 22 points per game and 4,401 yards.
While they only allowed 33 touchdowns — again leading the conference — Northern Illinois was the epitome of a bend-don’t-break defense, giving up 19 field goals, the most in the MAC.
The Huskies made their living getting stops when the going got tough and by securing turnovers — they tied for third in the MAC with 15 interceptions, taking 3 back to the house.
Jawuan Johnson took the role of playmaker for the strong defense, picking off 5 passes and taking 2 back for 6 points. He also finished second on the team with 98 tackles with 18 going for a loss. Luckily for Iowa, Johnson plays for TCU now, joining the Horned Frogs as a graduate transfer.
With Tristan Wirfs and Alaric Jackson out for the opener, Iowa has to find a way to overpower the strong Northern Illinois defense.
Marcus Childers passing yards — 1,674
Northern Illinois was not a great team throwing the ball last year, finishing eighth in the MAC.
Quarterback Marcus Childers only recorded 2 completions in the first four contests, which certainly hurt his numbers, but he still had four games after that in which he threw for under 200 yards, including a 64-yard performance against Western Michigan and a 114-yard game in a win over Kent State.
Childers didn’t have targets that jumped out, but they were consistent at the very least. Six receivers had at least 10 receptions for 250 yards, and seven pass-catchers scored at least 2 touchdowns.
Spencer Tears led the team in the air attack despite only having one 100-yard game, catching 43 passes for 528 yards and 4 touchdowns.
However, the Huskies don’t have the red-zone target they had in Shane Wimann last season. Wimann caught 7 touchdowns in 2017 but is now trying to make his mark in the NFL.
