DEKALB, Ill — After falling behind by a field goal early Saturday, the Bobcats held the lead for most of the game. But Northern Illinois scored a touchdown with 4:51, sending the Bobcats home with a 24-21 loss at Huskie Stadium.
Here are five fast reactions to the Bobcats’ loss:
1. Unable to finish
Ohio entered the fourth quarter with a 21-9 lead, but it trickled away. NIU scored on its first possession of the fourth quarter. On the ensuing Ohio drive, Nathan Rourke was sacked by Sutton Smith, who forced Rourke to fumble and recovered the ball. The Huskies scored on the next possession and went for two — which they got — to take a 24-21 lead. Ohio got the ball back after but punted. The Huskies ran the clock out to seal the win.
2. Lack of run game
The three-headed offensive attack of Rourke, A.J. Ouellette and Maleek Irons couldn’t find any running lanes against NIU’s front seven. The Bobcats had just 46 yards on the ground. Ouellette did have a rushing touchdown in the first half, but he also fumbled on a run play in the third quarter.
Rourke was able to find Cox, Cam Odom, Andrew Meyer and Papi White, though, through the air to make up for the lackluster rushing performance.
3. Penalties
As well as the Bobcats were able to move the ball in the early stages of the second half, they definitely were aided by Huskies’ penalties. On Ohio’s final drive of the third quarter, NIU (3-3, 3-0 Mid-American Conference) gifted the Bobcats two third down conversions, which were both over 10 yards to go, via penalty: a late hit on Rourke and a pass interference.
The Huskies won despite having 12 penalties and 109 penalty yards.
4. Third down woes
Ohio (3-3, 1-1 MAC) struggled on third down, sans the conversions via penalty. The Bobcats were just 3 of 8 on third down. Ohio found itself behind the chains on most of its third down plays, lining up in 3rd and plus-10 yards to gain.
5. Wide open
Two of Ohio’s three touchdowns came on pass plays with busted coverage. On the first of the two, Isiah Cox slipped behind the NIU secondary, Nathan Rourke shrugged off two sack attempts to find a wide open Cox 40 yards down the field and threw the touchdown pass. On the next touchdown, tight end Connor Brown had nobody around him, either, and he was able to walk into the end zone for a score.
