What did I just watch?

I came out of the Convo today with a look of confusion.

What had I just seen with my own two eyes? Could that have been NIU Basketball? A 78-62 blowout victory for my Huskies? How is this possible?

Enough with the questions, the Ricardo Patton era of basketball is in full swing after a HUGE victory against our rivals in Toledo. They talked about the rivalry against Toledo a bunch on the radio. Ricardo even found out about it during the week.

Gone is the Rob Judson era, where players would just pass the ball around the perimeter, not attacking the basket and just not being athletic whatsoever. Judson never improved his teams throughout the season. 2 games into conference season, you can already see the improvement by Ricardo Patton's squad.

Gone is Judson's players barely scoring more than 10 points in every game and never holding on to the ball. In comes Ricardo Patton's high flying team scoring at will and 3 guys scoring in double digits. All the talent has been brought out of whatever Judson gave us. I remember watching the highlights from some Judson years, and I almost fell asleep. This team doesn't do that to me.

I have always been embarrassed to go to NIU Basketball games, or even ask my friends to go. With today's victory, I don't feel that way anymore. If we win on Wednesday against EMU, I don't have any doubt in my mind to invite more people to the games and encourage people to show up at the game. This was an unbelievable victory that will hopefully impact the way the rest of the season will be played.

Memorable moments included Jarvis Nichols hit 3 3-pointers in a row towards the end of the 2nd half. Also Jake "Don't call me Darion" Anderson had a HUGE dunk that rocked the Convo. Anderson also had 10 rebounds.

Notable performances were from Jarvis Nichols with 21 pts, and Sean Smith with 18. Smith has such a pretty shot. Shaun Logan played gritty, dishing out 6 assists and fouling out and coming on to the bench with a standing O. Bristan Kelley did the dirty work in the paint scoring 11 points. We only turned it over 13 times in this game, which was key for a victory.

It was nice to see Sean Smith get his academics together and come back to play this game. He is a phenomenal player and will continue to improve adjusting from JUCO to D-I. Ben Rand was out with a sore foot.

So here is the current inactives...

Michael Fakuade - Redshirting as a Freshman
Lee Fisher - Redshirting as a Freshman
Sean Kowal - Sitting year out as Soph transfer from Colorado

"Judson Guys"
Darrius Gaters - Out for academic reasons
Zach Pancrantz - Out for season because of shoulder surgery
Ryan Paradise - Decided to end career because of broken nose/December graduation
Cody Yelder - Out for academic reasons

So here's a tally of post-HS experience on this team in order of most minutes played:

32 Jake Anderson, Fr - Spent 1 year at a prep-school improving his academics
25 Shaun Logan, Sr - Played for NIU LY and JUCO the 2 previous years
3 Jarvis Nichols, Jr - Redshirted LY and JUCO the 2 previous years
21 Egan Grafel, Sr - Barely played last year for NIU and JUCO the 2 previous years
24 Jeremy Landers, Fr - None, True Freshman
12 Sean Smith, Jr - JUCO the 2 past years
4 Michael Patton, Fr - None, True Freshman
10 Michael Hart, Sr - Played for D-III Carthage and at the Rec Center
2 Najul Ervin, So - Played 1 year of JUCO
31 Bristan Kelley, So - Played for NIU LY

Attendance tally for the season:

SFA - 1,141
Lamar - 1,042
Air Force - 1,169
UALR - 2,164
Toledo - 2,138

Toledo Hate Week

I apologize for lack of updates.

Which do I hate more...
The Toledo Rockets...or NIU Business School Midterms?
The answer is...


By a nosehair...I really don't think I did so well on that test...I feel like Dan Nicholson after the Wisconsin game. Ouch. Rather than reading articles on NIU, I've been studying and studying until my eyes bleed.

If there's one team that I despise in the Mid-American Conference, it's the pathetic team in Ohio called the Toledo Rockets.

Toledo is NIU's biggest rival in the Mid-American Conference. Do the Toledo Rockets see it as a rivalry? Not as much or not at all.

Joe Novak says it's a rivalry (Chronicle):

“Toledo, from at least our perspective, has turned into a big rival game,” Novak said. “The games have had such importance every year. When you are struggling, it's important to have a game like this.”

Transfer Chase Carter has also heard some stories:

"I've heard about Toledo and the rivalry but I don't personally know much about it. I do know that NIU and Toledo have a long history and we need to get this win. I could tell from our meetings this week that this is a big game and we need to get ready to play."

The Rockets are the opposite of the Huskies, ranking 4th in the conference scoring 30.4 ppg, whereas we are last with a PATHETIC 17.0 ppg. 114th nationally.

Toledo also has something we don't have which is tremendous depth at the quarterback position. Their top 2 QBs Aaron Opelt & Clint Cochran have gone down and have used Lenehan played 2 weeks ago. Opelt is back as their starter this week healed from his calf injury.

In the last game, UT forced 8 turnovers and RB Jalen Parmele ran the ball 38 times for 241 and garnered MAC player of the week.


Here's a little history of the rivalry (Game Notes)

ROCKETS 'N DOGS: The Huskies and Rockets meet for the 35th time and for the 19th time in Toledo. NIU is just 2-16 versus the Rockets in Toledo and has won only seven of the 34 meetings overall, but snapped an 11-game losing streak to UT the last time the teams played in the Glass Bowl with a 35-17 win in 2005 behind then back-up QB Dan Nichsolson. Toledo won the first four games between the teams (from 1967-71), and nine of the first 10 games, with Northern Illinois earning its first series win in 1972. Prior to the 2005 game, NIU's last win over the Rockets was in 1989.


Might we have a revenge factor? (Weekly Quotes)

Joe hasn't forgotten the "fog game"

"Last year's loss was one of the tougher losses that I have had here. This is not a personal thing, it's a team thing, but personally it was one of the toughest that I have been through because of the way it ended. It is always so tight anyway and to lose like that was difficult."

THE LAST MEETING: Northern Illinois mis-fired on four tries from the Toledo two-yard line in the final moments of the game as the Huskies dropped a 17-13 decision to Toledo on a foggy Thursday night in DeKalb. The Rockets built a 17-10 halftime lead and made it stand as the two teams could manage just a field goal in the second half. Britt Davis caught nine passes for 163 yards and three NIU defenders registered double figures in tackles, led by Tim McCarthy with 16.

Oh great Britt Davis & Tim McCarthy aren't even playing right now. What are we gonna do?

We're SO bad at so many things. The Chronicle sums it up:

The 1-7 record is just one of a series of ghoulish numbers for Northern Illinois In this week's FBS team statistics, the Huskies rank:

117th in kickoff returns (17.39 ypr),
116th in third down (28.6 percent) and fourth down offense efficiency (22.2) and turnover margin (minus-1.50),
114th in scoring offense (17.0 ppg),
113th in turnovers lost (23),
108th in passes had intercepted (14),
107th in time of possession (27:56),
106th in punt return yardage defense (14.06 ypr),
105th in total offense (322.13 ypg),
103rd in passing efficiency (108.32),
98th in net punting (32.42 ypp),
94th in turnovers gained (11) and fumbles lost (9),
93rd in rushing defense (191.5 ypg) and
91st in passing offense (188.9 ypg).

Our offense will make Toledo's 118th ranked D look like the Chicago Bears D circa 1985!

Central Michigan Breaks Record

Mark Mangino
Tom Amstutz

Joe Tiller

The coaches of CMU's first 3 opponents have a combined weight of 2,000 lbs, which sets an NCAA record.

Mangino: 800 lbs
Toledo Tom: 900 lbs
Joe Tiller: 300 lbs

Week 2 MAC Game of the Week

TURDLEDO @ CENTRAL MICHIGAN (-6)

I really didn't expect MAC games to get this important this early. 2 of the top MAC West team have a showdown on Saturday. Is it on TV? No, but 3 other MAC vs Big 10 games will be shown on the B10 network.

Toledo's not making any friends in the MAC:

"We hate Toledo just as much as we hate Western Michigan," said junior running back Ontario Sneed. "This game means a lot. We've got to have this win."

"We've beat (Toledo) two in a row," LB Red Keith said. "I think they're going to come in here after us, because we've got something they want."

Injury report: Toledo Senior FS Tyrrell Herbert is out with an injury. Another Senior in Toledo's secondary is out, but the article doesn't even list his name (WHY?) OK I looked it up. Senior CB Nigel Morris is also out for Toledo. CMU Senior WR Justin Gardner is questionable with an ankle injury.

Stadium Notes: Chips finally got a video scoreboard put up, which is pretty cool.

Cheerleaders will actually do stuff (unlike the NIU cheerleaders)

"We'll actually try to rally the crowd from inside the stands more often," Beirne said. The cheerleaders also will stick to traditional chants rather than learn dozens of routines at once.

"So instead of doing 30 things, we're going to do less, but we'll work a lot harder to get the students to yell it with us," Beirne said.

My prediction: Both teams got blown out last week, but I believe that Toledo has the stable coach in Toledo Tom Amstutz and stable running back in Jalen Parmele. Not to mention the revenge factor from last year's 42-20 loss at home. 35-23 Toledo.