DEKALB, Ill. — Northern Illinois gave UT Martin a good, up-close look at a physical defense on Saturday night.
The Northern Illinois linebackers and safeties led the Huskies to a 35-7 win over the Skyhawks at Huskies Stadium. Both teams are now 1-1 on the season.
“Those linebackers and safeties for Northern Illinois were rock’em, sock’em,” UTM head coach Jason Simpson said. “They got down the hill.”
The Skyhawks suffered from several injuries in the loss to the Football Bowl Subdivision team which won the Mid-American Conference and the GoDaddy.com Bowl a year ago.
“We got knocked around pretty good tonight,” Simpson said. “Our team doctor pulled three players from the game because of concussions. Give them credit. They tackled better than we did. I take my hat off to them and wish them good luck the rest of the season.”
Northern Illinois’ defense held the Skyhawks to 63 yards of rushing and 346 total yards of offense. Meanwhile, complementing the NIU defense was junior quarterback Jordan Lynch, who rushed for three touchdowns.
“He’s tough and very physical,” Simpson said. “A tough player such as Lynch can be difficult to defend.”
NIU built a 21-0 lead at halftime as Lynch rushed for a touchdown and passed for another in the first half. He then scored two more rushing touchdowns in the second half.
“When you’re down 21-0 on the road it is not a lot of fun,” Simpson said.
Lynch rushed 11 times for 60 yards and passed for 214 more yards. He completed 19-of-25 passes and was intercepted once.
The Skyhawks had several chances to score but only found the end zone once, with 14:09 to play in the game when quarterback Derek Carr completed a 7-yard pass to tight end Corey Jordan.
The touchdown play capped off a 10-play, 75-yard drive.
Senior wide receiver Quentin Sims caught 10 passes for 152 yards, and Carr completed 19-of-35 passes for 264 yards and one touchdown.
“We could have made it a game, but we didn’t get it done,” Simpson said. “I wish we could have held in there and pushed the game a little bit more.”
The Skyhawks return to action Thursday when they open the home portion of their schedule against Southeastern Louisiana at Hardy M. Graham Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.

Published in The Messenger 9.10.12