text: Matt Trowbridge: Huskies fearless on offense and defense - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star
  Matt Trowbridge: Huskies fearless on offense and defense
  Posted Sep 22, 2012 @ 11:33 PM
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  DEKALB — Northern Illinois didn't just win Saturday. The Huskies imposed their will on Kansas in a 30-23 "boneyard victory" over a BCS team.
  Coach Dave Doeren's favorite play was not a long touchdown. It's a third-and-1 Jordan Lynch quarterback sneak on NIU's game-winning TD drive.
  "We got a sneak on them and pounded it," Doeren said. "I was really, really excited about it. When you can finish the game being the most physical team on the field, you are going to win a lot of games. Have you ever seen a sneak go for 12? That was big time."
  Even bigger than Doeren thought. Lynch didn't move the pile 12 yards; he moved it 14. Two plays later, Leighton Settle scored on a 2-yard run to make it 30-23 with 4:33 to play.
  And the Huskies (3-1) were just as physical on defense. Big 12 teams are supposed to wear down teams from leagues like the Mid-American Conference, but NIU held Kansas to minus-12 yards on its final three drives as Alan Baxter and Joe Windsor each registered their second sack.
  The Huskies pushed the Jayhawks around because they tried to. They didn't sit back and try to protect a late lead. They pushed Kansas even farther back.
  "That's our coaches," Windsor said. "They are all very aggressive and want us to get after it for the whole 60 minutes.
  "Aggressiveness is what we do."
  NIU is coming off back-to-back 11-win seasons and won its first MAC title in 28 years last season. But the Huskies have taken another step this year. When they start to roll on offense, they go faster and faster, no matter what the clock says.
  Saturday, that meant scoring so fast the Huskies left Kansas with 98 seconds left in the first half and 4:33 left at the end of the game.
  So? The Huskies don't worry about protecting against the worst-case scenario. When things are rolling, they just want to keep them rolling. And they roll best when they roll fastest.
  At such times, they substitute players in so fast that Kansas coach Charlie Weis said it's impossible to match them with defensive substitutions.
  "Sometimes it looks like a fire drill over there, but it's hard to be a defensive coordinator and figure out what you're going to call," Weis said.
  On defense, it's not about the speed of the play, but it remains just as much about the lack of fear. The Huskies never dreamed of going into a prevent defense. Instead, they stepped up the pressure on Kansas quarterback Dayne Crist.
  "I'm an aggressive personality," Doeren said. "I told our offensive and defensive coaches to go. I said don't hold back — be aggressive, play like we're supposed to play, take shots, blitz, come after them."
  No fear. From start to finish. NIU went for it on fourth-and-1 from the 46 on its first TD drive.
  "It doesn't matter what type of fourth down it is, I always want to go for it," receiver Martel Moore (105 yards) said. "That sparked us up. I knew we were going to score on that drive."