Ball State University
Northern Illinois
Northern Ill. 40, BSU 28
September 30, 2006 | Football
The Ball State football team rallied with two late touchdowns Saturday night against Northern Illinois, but the Cardinals' comeback attempt fell short, 40-28.
After a Northern Illinois field goal pushed the Huskies' advantage to 40-14, Nate Davis led Ball State on a six play drive that ended with a 41-yard touchdown pass to Terry Moss down the left sideline to cut the deficit to 40-21.
The Cardinals then recovered an onside kick, which set up another scoring drive. Davis capped that nine-play drive with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Darius Hill, bringing the Cardinals to within 12 points at 40-28.
A second onside attempt by Ball State on the ensuing kickoff was recovered by Northern Illinois, and the Huskies ran out the clock.
"It wasn't a good game," Ball State coach Brady Hoke said. "We had guys in position and had to get it done. We gave up too many big plays and dropped too many balls offensively."
Davis finished the game 27-of-38 for a career-high 298 yards and a career-high four touchdowns. Two of those touchdowns went to Hill, who hauled in a game-high nine passes for 112 yards.
Davis threw touchdowns to Hill and Michael Steinhaus in the first half as the Cardinals built a 14-7 lead. Northern Illinois tied the game on a Phil Horvath touchdown pass to Marcus Perez before halftime.
"Ball State played like we expected them to," Northern Illinois coach Joe Novak said. "They played hard, and they came at us. They're a hard team to defend because they throw the ball so well."
Northern Illinois took control of the game in the second half, scoring 27 unanswered points to take a 40-14 lead.
Garrett Wolfe scored two touchdowns in the second half and finished with three for the game. The running back piled up 353 yards on the ground on 31 carries. Wolfe's touchdown runs came from 48, 51 and 53 yards.
Horvath added a second half touchdown pass to Brandon Davis, and Chris Nendick knocked home two second half field goals. Horvath finished the game 20-of-27 passing for 252 yards and two scores.
MiQuale Lewis led the Ball State ground attack with 14 carries for 79 yards, and Louis Johnson added five catches for 47 yards.
The game was delayed 55 minutes in the first quarter by severe weather with the score tied 7-7.
Ball State (1-4, 1-1 MAC) returns to action Saturday with a 1 p.m. kickoff at Buffalo.
