NIU needs only 7 points to beat BYU

PROVO, Utah - Grinding out wins with defense has become second nature for Northern Illinois.

The Huskies overcame their own offensive struggles by getting critical stops at critical times in a 7-6 victory over BYU on Saturday. It came down to making the game ugly for four quarters, and Northern Illinois accomplished that goal with a flourish.

The Cougars tallied 301 total yards and twice moved the ball into the red zone. That didn't matter much to the Huskies. They held BYU to field goals both times in the red zone and tallied five sacks and eight tackles for loss.

Mykelti Williams put an exclamation mark on a dominant defensive performance when he intercepted a pass from Zack Wilson at the BYU 48 with 1:39 left to seal the win.

"That was an old-school ugly football game from start to finish," Northern Illinois coach Rod Carey said. "Give our team credit. We uglied it up. We uglied it up on offense, uglied it up on defense. … It was ugly and it's beautiful to us, I can tell you that, in every way, shape, or form."

The Huskies (5-3, 4-0 MAC) won a football game while scoring only 7 points for the first time since defeating Akron 7-6 in the 1988 season opener. They accomplished that feat despite totaling just 204 yards on offense and averaging 3.6 yards per play.

Northern Illinois scored for the only time in the game on its opening second half drive. The Huskies covered 65 yards in 10 plays. Marcus Childers hit Spencer Tears with a 26 yard pass to get his team into BYU territory. Then, after four straight runs from Tre Harbison, Childers finished things off by punching it in on a 1-yard run to put NIU up 7-3.

"I guess it was just a matter of time," receiver Jauan Wesley said. "We were moving the ball extremely well, but sometimes we would step our own foot. We came out in the third quarter and we really planned on executing all plays."

It turned into one shining moment for a Huskies offense that generated only 139 yards and punted nine times on its other 12 drives.

BYU (4-4) threatened to overtake Northern Illinois multiple times as the half progressed. The Cougars marched down to the NIU 5 on its ensuing drive. Wilson put BYU in scoring position when he threaded a 42-yard pass to Talon Shumway and then hurdled a defender on a 5-yard run to get a first down two plays later.

Back-to-back red zone penalties halted BYU's momentum and forced the Cougars to settle for a 22-yard field goal from Skyler Southam.

The Cougars had a chance to take the lead with 9:27 left. BYU moved inside the NIU 30, but Josh Corcoran sacked Wilson for a 4-yard loss on third down. It forced a 51-yard field goal attempt from Southam that sailed wide right.

"We've talked about being aggressive in all three phases," Cougars coach Kalani Sitake said. "We're trying to find a way to make plays and we didn't do enough in all three phases to win the game."

Williams' interception ended BYU's final chance at making a comeback.

"We made an adjustment at halftime to adjust our coverage to what they were doing to attack us," Williams said. "Our coaches did a really great job of putting me into a position to actually execute a play and that's really what I did."

BYU took a 3-0 lead in the first quarter on Southam's 35 yard field goal. The Cougars kept the drive alive after Wilson hit Micah Simon for a 7-yard pass on 4th-and-4 from the NIU 41.

That turned out to be the only points for either team before halftime.

Northern Illinois totaled just 120 yards in the first half. BYU piled up only 142 yards. The Huskies totaled a scant 62 yards on their first four drives and did not convert a third down in that stretch.

They finally put together a solid drive late in the second quarter. Childers completed 4-of-5 passes to set up a 41 yard field goal attempt from Andrew Gantz. The ball bounced off the left upright, keeping NIU off the scoreboard going into the locker room.

BYU could not generate much offense either outside that lone scoring drive. The Cougars failed in converting another fourth down in their initial second quarter drive. Antonio Jones-Davis stopped Lopini Katoa for a 3-yard gain on a short pass with BYU facing 4th-and-7 at the NIU 35.

The Cougars and the Huskies combined for 8 total punts before halftime.