Northern Illinois takes another chance to stop the slide Saturday when it visits Wyoming in Laramie, a first road conference test for the Huskies after they opened league play with a loss to Air Force. The game kicks at 2:30 p.m. Central Time and will air on The CW.
The timing matters because Northern Illinois enters at 0-5 overall and 0-1 in conference play, while Wyoming is 3-3 overall and 2-1 in conference play. The Huskies have already been forced into catch-up mode, and this trip gives them a chance to show whether their offense can travel better than their record.
The numbers point to the problem. Northern Illinois ranks last nationally in red-zone offense at 38.5 percent, a mark that sits far below UTEP at 57.1 percent. The Huskies also rank 130th out of 138 FBS teams in yards per game at 290.8, so even when they move the ball, they have not turned enough of those drives into points.
Telly Johnson Jr. said the issue is not getting the ball into scoring range. He said the Huskies drive down the field a lot and get into the red zone, then have to stay consistent once they arrive there. That fits what happened against Air Force, when Northern Illinois scored once in three trips inside the 20-yard line in a 28-7 loss on Saturday. Tyger Dickens threw an interception in the red zone, the Huskies turned it over on downs once and that interception was their third red-zone turnover of the season. They have also turned it over on downs four times and missed a field goal this year.
Rob Harley put the diagnosis more bluntly, saying penalties and turnovers have come at inopportune times and that the fix comes down to discipline and accountability. Northern Illinois is not lacking opportunities so much as finishing them, and that gap has been the difference between moving the ball and scoring enough to change games.
The matchup also carries some history. The teams have met twice before, and Wyoming won both, beating Northern Illinois 50-43 in DeKalb in 2021 after leading 42-16 with 21 minutes left. The Cowboys also won 40-34 in triple-overtime in Laramie in 2016, when Josh Allen played quarterback for Wyoming and Kenny Golladay caught six passes for 82 yards for Northern Illinois.
Saturday gives the Huskies a new chance in the same place where they have already come up short. If Northern Illinois cannot clean up the red-zone mistakes, Wyoming will not need many chances to make the gap look larger than the records do.
