Quick Lane Bowl: Northern Illinois didn’t show up
Five injured starts isn’t helping anybody, except for Duke.
Northern Illinois was without five starters in the Quick Lane Bowl on Tuesday against Duke, where the Blue Devils came out on top 36–14: cornerback Shawun Lurry (wrist), wide receiver Chad Beebe (undisclosed), running back Jordan Huff (ankle), tight end Shane Winnman (turf toe) and defensive end Josh Corcoran (undisclosed).
One line of thinking is that when you’re down five starters on the final game of the year, you’re allowed to do crazy things. The other line of thinking is that maybe a fake punt-pass out of your own end zone is a bad idea.
It is a bad idea. It’s an awful idea. This doesn’t even work on NCAA 14. It’s a play that cost NIU in the first quarter, and a play that Duke capitalized on. Thought the pass was incomplete, Duke had beautiful field position and scored quickly. A quick 14–0 lead for the Blue Devils and it seemed like all Duke had to do was not get lapped.
But NIU stayed on-brand. In the second quarter, redshirt-senior Jackson Abresch had a partially-blocked punt (his second of the year), then NIU scored two plays later on a 25-yard run by Tre Harbison.
Then NIU tied things up with another two-play drive. First, a two-yard run by quarterback Marcus Childers, then he hooked up with Jauan Wesley for a 67-yard strike — two scores within two minutes of each other.
That is, however, as good as it’d get for the Huskies.
Duke quarterback Daniel Jones, who finished the game with 252 passing yards (27 of 40), had a pair of touchdown throws before halftime to T.J. Rahming (33 yards) and Shaun Wilson (11 yards) for the Blue Devils to be up 26–14. Duke failed to make an extra point following the two scores.
On NIU’s first possession of the third quarter, Childers went 4-for-4 through the air, but when Josh Orne lined up for his 39-yard field goal attempt, the snap was no good and NIU couldn’t make a play happen.
Speaking of NIU not being able to make plays happen, that’s basically how the whole game felt, in spite of its two quick-scoring drives. For the game, NIU’s offense picked up 299 yards on 57 plays (5.2 yards per play). But if we can ignore the fluky scoring drives, then NIU’s offense had 143 yards of offense on 47 plays (3.0 yards per play).
Duke would go on to add a seven-yard rushing touchdown by Brittain Brown, then an easy field goal by William Holmquist.
Overall, this game was immemorable, and a fitting touch to the MAC losing all but one of its five bowl games this winter.
