Huskies come up empty in season finale

DEKALB - It's hard to get to a bowl when you can hardly get your hands on the ball.

Northern Illinois needed to beat Navy in Tuesday night's regular-season finale in order to earn its third bowl berth in five years.

But the Midshipmen's triple-option attack chewed up so much time that NIU's offense had just six possessions all night - roughly half of a normal game.

Though the Huskies took five of their drives into Navy territory, ill-advised Chandler Harnish interceptions derailed two promising marches and a third ended with a pass breakup at the goal line.

Meanwhile, Navy scored on its first two possessions and held firm for a 16-0 nonconference triumph before 17,932 on a subfreezing Senior Day at Huskie Stadium.

NIU (6-6) hadn't been shut out since Sept. 18, 1999, at Iowa - a stretch of 115 games.

"You can't miss on the offensive side (against Navy)," Huskies coach Jerry Kill said. "We moved the ball on offense, but we couldn't finish. They were able to finish, and that's the difference.

"Once they get control of the game and get ahead, it's very hard to catch up."

NIU had the ball first and pounded Ricky Crider between the tackles to get to Navy's 30.

"They had our defense reeling," Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo said. "They came out and kind of woke us up and hit us in the face."

Then Harnish tried to hit Landon Cox, who busted the route, on a deep down-and-out that was picked off easily by cornerback Rashawn King.

That set up an excruciating 11-minute, 81-yard drive that finished with a field goal.

On its next possession, Navy (7-4) marched 85 yards for a touchdown that pleased the 1,300 midshipmen (700 from Annapolis and 600 from Great Lakes) standing in their Standard Dress Blues.

Trailing just 9-0 at halftime, the Huskies felt primed for another second-half comeback.

Harnish moved NIU to Navy's 37 and tried to convert a big fourth-and-4, but Navy safety Emmett Merchant read Harnish's out pass to Greg Turner perfectly and stood there awaiting its arrival.

Merchant's 29-yard return set up Navy's insurance score late in the third quarter.

While 11 senior starters bid NIU adieu, Harnish wrapped up his promising freshman season 14 of 24 for 116 yards and those 2 interceptions.

"The first pick was just a dumb read," Harnish said. "That's something I need to learn from.

"The second one, I just didn't see - I didn't have a wide-enough gaze to see what I needed to see - and threw a pass blindly into the flat. That was kind of the story."