'Tale of two halves' in NIU's 27-20 loss to Ball State

DeKALB - Caleb Huntley ran up the gut of Northern Illinois' defense on Ball State's first offensive play of the fourth quarter, breaking the Huskies' spirits after a nightmare third quarter.

The Ball State running back picked up yards in chunks all day, and his 45-yard touchdown was what the Cardinals needed for a late lead and eventual 27-20 victory to bring the Bronze Stalk Trophy back to Muncie for the first time since 2008.

"It's a tale of two halves," Huskies coach Thomas Hammock said. "We can come here now and say, 'the play-calling,' but after the first half, you would have said the play-calling was pretty good. We have to execute the plays that's called and that's on me. Like I said, I've never been a guy to shy away from responsibility. My grandfather raised me better than that. I'm going to look in the mirror and see what we can do."

After Ball State (2-3, 1-0 MAC) went up by seven, Bowers threw a tipped interception on the ensuing drive that settled into the hands of Amechi Uzodinma, which he returned to the Huskie 23-yard line.

That then turned into a Ryan Rimmler field goal for a 10-point Cardinals lead - and, at that point, 24 unanswered points.

"Momentum is the next snap," Hammock said. "We never was able to gain the momentum on the next opportunity. I think that's something I'll look in the mirror tonight and say hey, what do we need to do?'"

NIU (1-4, 0-1) totaled 12 penalties for 111 yards, six of which came in the third quarter. Weston Kramer was ejected from the game after a personal foul.

"They said he threw a punch," Hammock said. "I didn't see the play, so we'll watch it on tape and see what happened exactly."

The Huskies had nine consecutive drives end in zero points and six straight that did not go beyond three plays.

"After the first half, I don't think there were any issues," Hammock said. "We've got to put four complete quarters of football together is what we're striving for. We've got to stay in the moment. We have to play the next play. One thing, you look at momentum. Momentum is the next snap. We never was able to gain the momentum on the next opportunity. I think that's something I'll look in the mirror tonight and say hey, what do we need to do?'"