Northern Illinois University tailback Garrett Wolfe set a personal, Northern Illinois and Scheumann Stadium record by rushing for 353 yards as the Huskies defeated Ball State 40-28.
The Heisman Trophy candidate scored three touchdowns on runs of 51, 48 and 53. A 75-yard run also set up a field goal by kicker Chris Nendick in the third quarter.
"It wasn't a good game," Ball State coach Brady Hoke said. "They're a good football team. They have a daggone good back who embarrassed us a lot. We missed a lot of tackles. We had guys in position and we got to follow through and get that done."
Wolfe now has 1,181 yards rushing and became the fastest running back to 1,000 yards in Division I-A history. He eclipsed the mark midway through the third quarter.
"We didn't play good defense at all," safety Erik Keys said. "He's a great back. I give him his credit. We helped him out though."
Wolfe's big day overshadowed true freshman Nate Davis's first career start. Davis played well, showing poise in completing 27-of-38 passes for 298 yards and four touchdowns.
"I felt like we didn't achieve what we wanted to because things didn't go as well at certain times," Davis said, "but we're going to bounce back on that."
The Ball State defense was once again ripped to shreds. The Huskies tallied 610 yards of total offense - the most the Cardinals have given up this season. The defense is now giving up an average of 497.2 yards per game. Northern Illinois' quarterback, Phil Horvath, was 20-of-27 for 252 yards and two touchdowns.
Horvath's first one came courtesy of a questionable coaching decision by Ball State. With a 14-7 lead, the Cardinals stopped Northern Illinois on a 3rd-and-goal play at the five-yard line. Instead of letting the Huskies attempt a field goal, Hoke accepted a holding penalty, giving Northern Illinois another play.
The Huskies took advantage, with Horvath hitting Marcus Perez in the back corner of the end zone.
"You would think to heck you could stop a 3rd-and-16 play," Hoke said. "Maybe we get a sack, you move them back and get them out of field goal range. I thought we had the ability to play the ball better. We were just a little late."
The Huskies opened up the scoring with a Wolfe 51-yard run five and a half minutes into the game.
Ball State responded right back with Davis throwing a 19-yard touchdown pass to Darius Hill. Davis was 5-for-5 on the drive.
Hill led Ball State with nine catches for 112 yards and two touchdowns.
The game was delayed for nearly an hour with three minutes left in the first quarter after lightning was detected within a three-mile radius of the stadium.
On the second play of the second quarter, Ball State took a 14-7 lead when Michael Steinhaus caught a pass in the back of the end zone that deflected off the hands of Dante Love.
Northern Illinois then proceeded to score 33 points before Ball State scored two touchdowns late in the fourth quarter.
Davis hit a streaking Terry Moss down the left sideline for a 41-yard touchdown pass and Hill caught a 13-yard pass from Davis for the final margin.
Ball State improved its running game but still struggled, rushing 26 times for 78 yards. Freshman MiQuale Lewis led the way with 79 yards on 14 carries.
"It comes to a point now where we got to say enough is enough," Keys said. "We've lost four games straight. Something has to happen. It's within us."
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