College football preview: Army at NIU
Army at Northern Illinois
When: 6 p.m. Saturday at Huskie Stadium
Net: ESPN3.com
Radio: WSCR 670-AM (joined in progress after White Sox’ 3:10 p.m. game); WLBK 1360-AM
Series: Army leads 1-0 (21-14 in 1992)
Coaches: Rich Ellerson (12-13, third year at Army; 72-54 overall); Dave Doeren (first year at NIU)
Army players to watch: Army retains the two most important players to making the triple-option offense go. QB Trent Steelman (995 passing yards, 721 rushing yards, 18 TDs) makes his 26th consecutive start while Jared Hassin (1,013 yards, 9 TDs) returns at fullback. Junior Dan McGue (Benet Academy) is listed as Army’s No. 3 fullback. Veteran LBs Steven Erzinger and Andrew Rodriguez lead the “Flex” defense that lost its top two playmakers to graduation.
NIU players to watch: First-team all-MAC QB Chandler Harnish is the favorite to succeed graduated teammate Chad Spann as the league’s Most Valuable Player. Harnish put up terrific numbers last year (3,366 total yards and 28 TDs), but he should deliver even more this year with NIU’s switch to a no-huddle attack. Senior Jasmin Hopkins (38 carries, 366 yards, 2 TDs) leads a quartet of running backs while Lake Park HS senior Willie Clark (42 catches, 602 yards, 7 TDs) tops a deep receiving corps that retains four of its top five pass-catchers. All-MAC DE Sean Progar and MLB Pat Schiller (Geneva) are the most experienced on a young defense.
The skinny: While Army doesn’t quite have the cachet of NIU’s recent opening-game foes (Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin, etc.), the Black Knights are on the rise under Ellerson. Army arrives at DeKalb coming off its first winning season and first bowl game since 1996. The intricacies of Army’s triple-option offense forced NIU to start preparing during the spring. Doeren said the Huskies spent parts of six spring practices familiarizing themselves with the Black Knights’ attack. During the fall, redshirting linebacker Tyrone Clark (a standout RB and QB in the triple-option in high school) served as scout-team quarterback.
Fast fact: NIU hasn’t won an opener since 2003. That’s when the Huskies defeated 15th-ranked Maryland 20-13 at Huskie Stadium to kick off a 7-0 start that zoomed NIU to its highest spot (No. 12) in the Associated Press poll.