It was for naught though, as Crum badly underthrew his intended receiver Nykeim Johnoon, who was well behind the coverage and gunning towards the endzone, and NIU “rover” Dillon Thomas was able to pinpoint the ball and haul in the interception to give NIU the ball right back with a double-digit lead.
On the ensuing drive, Kent State once again tried to kick up the big play machine, with a Dustin Crum scramble earning them 11 yards and a first down. They’d cash in the score with four straight runs after another incomplete pass, as Clint Ratkovich took the jet sweep for the two-yard touchdown run to put NIU up 10-0. was called for a pass interference penalty to extend the drive, giving NIU new life. It proved to be a very important stop early on, as NIU would take the ball and this time, came out firing after a handful of runs up the middle, with a third-and-two toss to Cole Tucker for 23 yards followed up with an incompletion, a four-yard run by Jay Ducker, and an incompletion on third-and-six. The drive would eventually stall out on their own 47-yard line after Crum took a sack on third-and-12, forcing the punt. Kent State went right back to the pass game seeing a matchup they liked, with Ja’Shaun Poke nabbing a slant ball on the run-pass option look for a 75-yard score- but it was called back due to an ineligible man downfield, negating the score. On the first play from scrimmage, Dustin Crum uncorked a pass down the near sideline towards a streaking Dante Cephas for what would likely have been a 75-yard touchdown had Cephas not tripped up en route. Kent State, meanwhile, seemed to rely on trying to get the deep play early, something which had worked to great success in their prior game back in November. NIU set to establish the run and dominate from the onset of play, taking the opening possession 41 yards over 10 plays and 5:10 of game time to set up John Richardson to kick a 37-yard field goal, converting a short fourth-and-three conversion from around the KSU 40-yard line to keep the drive alive early.
Hammock, in his third season at the helm, signed a mid-season extension to stay on at NIU until the 2026-27 academic season.įor Kent State, a MAC title continues to elude them, as they continue to hold the MAC’s second-longest streak between championships, having not accomplished the feat since 1972.
The win secured NIU’s sixth MAC championship overall, and their fifth in 11 seasons, while Hammock became the fifth NIU coach in a row to win the division and appear in the MAC title game, following Joe Novak, Jerry Kill, Dave Doeren and Rod Carey.
It was a foundational win for coach Thomas Hammock and his staff in their third year together, as they led a roster with over which had 15 players who started as walk-ons and played 18 true freshman throughout the season pulling out nine victories despite being chosen to finish last in the West division by a wide margin in the preseason polls. In what can only be described as a dominant performance to defy all expectations, the Northern Illinois Huskies (9-4, 7-2 MAC) completed their climb up the ladder from the winless basement to conference title glory on Saturday afternoon in Detroit, Michigan, taking down the Kent State Golden Flashes (7-6, 5-4 MAC) by a final score of 41-23 to claim their fifth MAC title in the last 11 seasons.