NIU guards against trick from Akron on Halloween

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Northern Illinois returns home for the first time in four weeks, hosting Akron to kick off three straight at Huskie Stadium.

Starting quarterback Chandler Harnish had knee surgery Oct. 20, missed last weekend?s game and is listed as questionable for today?s matchup. DeMarcus Grady will get his second straight start if Harnish can?t go.

Regardless of who is at quarterback, head coach Jerry Kill and the players agree that today?s game will come down to the Huskies? defense and the play up front.

?It all starts up front. We don?t focus on who?s in at quarterback and who?s back there with him too much,? offensive guard Joe Pawlak said. ?It doesn?t change things for us. We know what we have to do.?

NIU has the top rated rushing offense in the Mid-American Conference, chewing up 196.1 yards per game. Akron has given up 169.1 yards per game on the ground. The Huskies are scoring at a 29.1 points-per-game clip, No. 2 in the league. Akron is surrendering 26.4 ppg.

On the other side, NIU?s defense is No. 2 in the league allowing 19.3 points per game, while the Zips? offense is third from the bottom at 18.3 points per outing. Akron is second from the bottom in total offense (280.0 yards per game), while the Huskies? D is fourth (349.0 ypg) overall.

?We are definitely getting better. The people are starting to buy in,? linebacker Alex Kube said. ?The young guys are starting to get it.?

This week the Huskies will have to stop a three-headed running back attack, and a freshman quarterback (Patrick Nicely), who is the third player to start at that position for the Zips this year.

NIU (4-3, 2-1) is currently third in the MAC West, behind Central Michigan (7-1, 5-0) and Western Michigan (4-4, 3-2). However, the Huskies have a 38-3 victory over the Broncos on their side, and a season-ending matchup looming against the Chippewas.

 

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Northern Illinois confident going against Akron


Jerry Kill is confident his Huskies will continue to get their signals straight at quarterback.

With starter Chandler Harnish sidelined with a knee injury that he suffered two weeks ago, DeMarcus Grady managed to lead NIU to a 27-22 victory at Miami of Ohio last Saturday to improve the Huskies' record to 4-3 overall and 2-1 in the Mid-American Conference.

Grady could get the call again Saturday for the Huskies against Akron, the first of three straight MAC home games.

"(Harnish) hurt his knee, and right now he's rehabbing with our trainer," Kill said Monday. "He will be re-evaluated. We'll see where we go from there. It's an injury that we're hoping we can get him back within two or three weeks. We could very well have him back this week. It's just how he comes around."

Grady completed 6 of 10 passes for 60 yards and rushed 10 times for 69 yards in the victory over Miami.

"We had time to get DeMarcus ready, and also (red-shirt senior) Ryan Morris," Kill said. "When you lose your No. 1 quarterback, it's not the same because that youngster hasn't played in games and hadn't gotten all the reps. When you're preparing for games, you prepare your No. 2 some, but he doesn't get as many reps as the No. 1.

"If Chandler is still hurt, we will use DeMarcus. We could use Ryan Morris in some situations. We talked to Ryan about that before the (Miami) game. It's no different when we used DeMarcus sometimes in situation where we needed to take a load off of Chandler."

Akron comes into Huskie Stadium with a 1-6 record, 0-3 in the MAC.

"We're confident with (Grady)," said 6-5, 281-pound NIU guard Joe Pawlak from Grayslake. "He works hard at practice and watches a lot of game film. He'll be ready. It's not really that big of a difference between the quarterbacks. If we do our job up front, the rest will take care of itself."