Article Season Opener Preview: The Northern Illinois Huskies

Season Opener Preview: The Northern Illinois Huskies

NIU Head Coach Thomas Hammock (Justin Gasterline-Getty Images)

Toe Meets Leather in three weeks, Yellow Jackets fans. That familiar smell of preseason optimism is wafting through the air of college campuses and homes across the U.S. Every team is undefeated, and every fan's opinion is unblemished.

Contrary to popular fan opinion, success and failure will not be defined solely by those bearing headsets on the west sidelines of Bobby Dodd Stadium nor only the players in white and gold. Come week 1, there's another squad with something to say about that. Coming to Atlanta for the Jackets' 2021 season opener are the Northern Illinois Huskies. This will be the first ever head-to-head match-up between schools. With that, for many Tech fans this will be a first look at a proud program out of the Mid-American Conference (MAC).

The Huskies' recent history in the MAC is noteworthy, having won 4 conference championships in the last 10 years. They strung together 10 bowl appearances in 11 years from 2008-2018. All of this within a conference known for giving P5 teams a fit.

So what are they this year? To be determined, of course. Looking back at 2020 offers a glimpse. Coming off a disappointing 0-6 season in 2020, the Huskies have nowhere to go but up. They're led by third year Head Coach Thomas Hammock, a proud alum of the school who joined the program via assistant coaching stops at Wisconsin, Minnesota and most recently with the Baltimore Ravens.

A third year head coach, trying to right the ship, in a role that he describes as his "dream job". Sound familiar?

Winless seasons have few silver linings, and last year was no exception. The Huskies gave up 30+ points in each of their six conference-only games. They lost by 3+ scores in three of those tilts. They averaged 1.70 points per drive offensively (#104 nationally) and gave up 2.77 points per drive defensively (#96 nationally). For a relative comparison, the Duke Blue Devils' 2020 output comes close (1.63 offense, 2.77 defense). Disclaimer: that comparison does not account for strength of schedule.

But guess what? Much like many Tech fans are wont to dismiss 2020 as an anomaly, you can bet Northern Illinois is thinking the same. In a season without prior precedent, there are plenty of legitimate reasons for the Huskies to believe that. Per Phil Steele, the Huskies played 14 walk-ons last year.

Offensively, the Huskies were remarkably balanced in 2020, with 36.8 pass attempts and 36.8 rush attempts per game. That resulted in an average output of 240 yards passing and 127 yards rushing per game. Tyrice Richie, a six foot senior wideout, returns after averaging 8.8 receptions and nearly 100 yards receiving per game in 2020. The offense will likely be led by Michigan State transfer quarterback, Rocky Lombardi, who threw for 1,000+ yards, 8 TD and 9 INT during his final season with the Spartans.

Defensively, the Huskies lacked a disruptor. Only one player registered 2 sacks in 2020. They allowed 245 yards passing per game. A cornerback, 5'10" Jordan Gandy, led the team with 41 tackles. All-MAC linebacker Kyle Pugh returns after leading the squad with 3.5 TFL.

On special teams, the Huskies safely outperformed the Jackets in the placekicking game. Who didn’t?  Returning kicker John Richardson converted 7 of 9 field goal attempts in 2020, with a long of 46 yards. He was a perfect 14 for 14 on extra points.

There are reasons for optimism for Northern Illinois this year. According to collegefootballnews.com, the Huskies were really young in 2020. They bring back all five starters from the offensive line last year, a position that arguably has the greatest need for continuity and reps. They return 10 starters on defense. Phil Steele named 13 Huskies to his preseason All-MAC teams for 2021.  Safe to assume they will be an improved team.

It's also safe to say that, after putting up a donut in 2020, the Huskies have not lacked for motivation this offseason.  Combine that with their P5 opener on the road at Bobby Dodd Stadium on September 4^th, and we have the all the makings of a feisty opener for the Jackets.

 

[slugboy]

Bill Connelly's SP+ picks have us winning 35-16.

I'd like to see a bit larger margin on gameday but I'll take that

If we have that margin, keep everyone healthy, and rotate a lot of players, I’ll be happy

 

[LibertyTurns]

Finally the handwringers are realizing we’re about to demolish NIU. I get the reticence about predicting a flat out 35 pt blowout because we’re scrimmaging and need time for the 2nd & 3rd stringers to get game time, but damn they don‘t measure up at a single position. When the first string is in we’re going to beat them like a rented mule, our 2nd string will still outclass them. They’ll likely hold up against our 3rd string in the 4th quarter, but by them the game will be far out of reach. Enjoy the night Jacket fans. We’ll have plenty of highlight reel replays on Sunday morning. 5 GT players will score and more than 1 will score more than once, at least 2 defenders will create turnovers. 49-14 is likely, perhaps add on a few FGs or sub one of their TD for a FG, but it won’t be significanty different than that unless our coaching staff goes full.

 

[85Escape]

The more I think about our run game and then consider the big boys we've added this year the less concerned I become about this game. Even if the passing game isn't there I don't believe that NIU will be able to slow down our offense. I think we'll put up 280+ yards of rushing. Last year we rushed for 243 yds in our wins for almost 6 yards/carry (ypc), while in our losses we had about the same number of rushes but averaged only 168 yds/game and 4.12 ypc.

So as long as we don't slow ourselves down by penalties and mistakes (and don't try to force a certain number of passing plays) we'll get over 6 ypc and 250 yards rushing and this will be a blow out by half-time.

 

[UgaBlows]

Our 4 RB’s are gonna feast tomorrow night!

 

[85Escape]

I just finished re-watching the condensed Duke game...I figure that's a good proxy for the talent at NIU (being generous to NIU.) It was super sloppy on our part, particularly in special teams. I mean, really hard to stomach. I sure hope that is cleaned up this year!

Anyway, its the game where Gibbs pulled his hammy on a break-away run. Four take-aways:
1) Gibbs is incredible. One seam and he's gone.
2) Sims is a great runner.
3) Mason is a monster and can really pound it inside.
4) I forgot how good Smith is...he could start at running back for a lot of teams.

 

[LibertyTurns]

@85Escape You remember when defenders used to run away from our OL downfield and our backs racked up big YPC? This game will be like that except we’ll throw the ball as well and when we do it’s not the Hail Mary jump ball, we’re gonna have WRs running free tearing them a new one and a QB that hits them in stride. If Sims get a grass stain on his uni it’s from being dog piled in the endzone from our own guys. He won’t be touched at all in the pocket and will be able to make himself a baloney sandwich back there if he gets hungry. I was thinking 49-10 for about a month now, but I’m having second thoughts. It shouldn’t be that close of a game. This bottom feeder MAC is bottom feeding in their own conference. They only have 3-4 guys total that would crack the 2 deep.

 

[85Escape]

I just finished re-watching the condensed Duke game...I figure that's a good proxy for the talent at NIU (being generous to NIU.)

Sorry NIU fans...I didn't mean to insult your team like that.

 

[CuseJacket]

 

[Huskie73]

Nice cherry pick. My point was that we're not going to roll over and these kids believe in themselves. I'll take the cover on your 39 pt. spread prediction all day LoL

Hey Gang,
I want to thank the fans and students for great hospitality and just overall being very welcoming. Beautiful campus as well. One of the best road game experiences I’ve had. Please try to have some patience with the team and staff. You know how high the ceiling is for your team, that hasn’t change, Very impressive true freshman QB. Gibbs is amazing. I like our freshman RB Waylee but even he doesn’t have near the shiftiness, wow.

If you’re interested in easy money next week my Huskies are +7 at home this week against Wyoming. Continued total disrespect. The computers must still be primarily focused on last year’s results but I’m telling you it meant nothing for this team beyond motivation for this year. Hope Simms heals up quickly and you guys play up to your potential. We lost our best defensive player for at least this year (Georgia kid, had surgery in Atlanta yesterday and seemed to have went well. He must of had 20-30 friends and family at the game which was difficult.). Hoping both teams came out relatively healthy otherwise, its a brutal game.

Its been entertaining reading this board. I might actually miss it…

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Hey Gang,
I want to thank the fans and students for great hospitality and just overall being very welcoming. Beautiful campus as well. One of the best road game experiences I’ve had. Please try to have some patience with the team and staff. You know how high the ceiling is for your team, that hasn’t change, Very impressive true freshman QB. Gibbs is amazing. I like our freshman RB Waylee but even he doesn’t have near the shiftiness, wow.

If you’re interested in easy money next week my Huskies are +7 at home this week against Wyoming. Continued total disrespect. The computers must still be primarily focused on last year’s results but I’m telling you it meant nothing for this team beyond motivation for this year. Hope Simms heals up quickly and you guys play up to your potential. We lost our best defensive player for at least this year (Georgia kid, had surgery in Atlanta yesterday and seemed to have went well. He must of had 20-30 friends and family at the game which was difficult.). Hoping both teams came out relatively healthy otherwise, its a brutal game.

Its been entertaining reading this board. I might actually miss it…

Congratulations on a well played game. You guys played harder and were well coached. Going for 2 at the end was the only call that late in the game and away.

Sorry about the injury. I'm glad we didn't do it so there is no question of sportsmanship.