Hi there, Huskie fans. Nola Brandvik here, writing from the tailgate of my pickup on a gravel road outside DeKalb, with the combines working the fields on both sides of me. It's harvest season in northern Illinois. And I'll be honest with you: the Huskies' harvest has been thin this year.
I measure football like a crop. Knee-high by the Fourth of July is the old saying, and by October you find out what you've really got in the bin. Right now, the Huskies have zero wins in the bin. That's the truth, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. But I've seen a lot of falls, and I've seen late rain save a field.
This week: an honest review of a 41-23 loss at Wyoming, then the best chance of the season to get a win in the bin. Hawai'i is coming to Huskie Stadium.
Part 1: Wyoming 41, Northern Illinois 23
On Oct. 17 at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie, Wyoming's Tyler Hughes ran for a career-high 183 yards and four touchdowns, threw for 196 more, and the Cowboys beat NIU 41-23.
Hughes did most of the damage himself. He scored on runs of 53, 24, 6 and 11 yards, and completed 16 of 19 passes. Wyoming ran for 314 yards and led 20-6 at halftime.
But there were green shoots, and I'm going to point them out. Telly Johnson Jr. ran 16 times for 139 yards, 8.7 per carry, and scored on a 13-yard run in the third quarter, and George Dimopoulos ran in the two-point try to make it 27-17. JJ Schlenhardt made field goals of 44, 22 and 46 yards. Taron Dickens threw for 216 yards and hit La'Don Bryant for a 34-yard touchdown. DeAree Rogers caught 11 passes for 89 yards. NIU ran for 176 yards on 29 carries, 6.1 per carry, and didn't turn the ball over. Brady Kerperin made 11 tackles.
The weeds. NIU went 4-for-14 on third down and committed eight penalties for 90 yards. Dickens completed 24 of 44 passes, and NIU kicked three field goals in a game it lost by 18. You can't win a yield contest with field goals when the other farm is bringing in touchdowns.
NIU is 0-6 and 0-2 in its first season in the Mountain West, where it joined as a football-only member this year. The season: 40-0 at Iowa, 28-24 to Illinois State, 42-17 at Arizona, 35-14 at Georgia State, 28-7 to Air Force and 41-23 at Wyoming. That four-point loss to Illinois State hurt. I'm still not over it.
But here's something a farmer knows. You don't judge a field by the worst rows. Iowa and Arizona are Big Ten and Big 12 programs, both on the road, and Air Force is 5-1. The Huskies have played four of six games away from DeKalb. Now they get to come home, sleep in their own beds and play in front of their own folks. Home field matters, especially in late October in northern Illinois.
Part 2: Hawai'i at Northern Illinois
Saturday, 3:30 p.m. Eastern, at Huskie Stadium in DeKalb, streaming on MW+. Hawai'i (1-6, 0-4 Mountain West) at Northern Illinois (0-6, 0-2).
What's in Our Field
Johnson leads the run game with 439 yards and four touchdowns on 81 carries. Dickens has thrown for 1,193 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions, completing 65.8 percent. Rogers has 49 catches for 422 yards. And the pass defense is a real bright spot, allowing 187 yards per game, 33rd in FBS.
The honest crop report: NIU scores 14.2 points per game, 137th, and its red zone offense ranks 138th, scoring on 46.7 percent of trips. The run defense allows 228.5 yards per game, 135th. And opponents convert 61.6 percent of their third downs, 138th. Those are drought numbers.
What's in Their Field
Now, Hawai'i. Hawai'i runs for 77.4 yards per game. That's 138th in FBS. Friends, I've seen corn grow faster than that run game moves. DeVon Rice leads the Rainbow Warriors with 314 rushing yards for the season. Last week against New Mexico, Hawai'i ran 27 times for 48 yards, 1.8 per carry.
Hawai'i scores 15.7 points per game, 133rd. It led New Mexico 10-0 at halftime last week and didn't score in the second half. And its run defense allows 182.3 per game, 112th, so Johnson should find room to run.
To be fair, Hawai'i can throw. Micah Alejado has 1,862 passing yards, and the Rainbow Warriors throw for 268 yards per game, 32nd. But our pass defense is our best acre. That's a matchup I'll take.
Here's the plan. Run Johnson at a run defense ranked 112th. Make Hawai'i one-dimensional, because its one dimension is the pass and our pass defense ranks 33rd. Finish drives with touchdowns instead of field goals. And plant this one in the bin.
Time Zones and Travel
Here's a little farm wisdom. A 3:30 Eastern kickoff is 2:30 in DeKalb. For Hawai'i, it's 9:30 in the morning back home. The Rainbow Warriors flew a long way to play an early game in October weather in northern Illinois. I'm not saying the cold will win it for us. I'm saying the Huskies are used to it.
The Series
CollegeFootballData.com has no previous meeting on record for these two programs. Let's start the series on the right foot.
Town Report: DeKalb vs. Honolulu
DeKalb. DeKalb had 40,290 people at the 2020 census and sits about 65 miles west of downtown Chicago. It's named for Baron Johann de Kalb, a major general in the American Revolutionary War. In 1874, DeKalb's Joseph Glidden received a patent for the double-strand barbed wire that's still used around the world. And per Wikipedia, DeKalb played a leading role in commercial hybrid corn: until the mid-1970s, more American farmers planted DeKalb hybrid corn than any other brand, and the logo was a flying ear of corn. A flying ear of corn! That's my kind of mascot.
We hold Corn Fest every August. The Egyptian Theatre, built in 1929, is one of a handful still standing in the country. And Huskie Stadium, opened in 1965, sits on the west end of campus. Its playing surface became Brigham Field in 2003. This program went to the Orange Bowl in the 2012 season. We know what a good harvest looks like.
Honolulu. Honolulu is beautiful. I've seen the pictures. But here's the thing. Wikipedia says the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex, where Hawai'i has played home football since 2021, "normally serves as the practice facility." Hawai'i's home games are at the practice field. Friends, out here we'd call that playing in the machine shed.
And Honolulu's name means "sheltered harbor" or "calm port." Calm port. Well, DeKalb in late October isn't calm and it isn't sheltered. The wind comes across these fields with nothing to stop it but a fence. And we invented the fence.
Final Word
It's been a dry season. But every farmer knows that one good rain can change a crop. Saturday is that rain, if the Huskies make it so. Run the ball, finish drives, and keep the third-down chains from moving. Get one in the bin.
Knee-high by the Fourth of July. A win by the end of October.
My call: Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors 23, Northern Illinois Huskies 21.