DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University football team begins the first game of back-to-back road trips this weekend, heading to UNLV on Saturday night. The Huskies and Rebels will get underway on Halloween at 9:30 p.m..
NIU and UNLV have played five times previously with the Huskies winning each contest. The last game in the series was in 2015, a 38-30 Huskies win in which former wide receiver Kenny Golladay recorded 213 receiving yards on nine receptions in DeKalb.
Halloween night will be the second conference matchup between the teams. Despite both being members of the Big West Conference from 1993-95, the schools only played once in 1995.
Wide receiver DeAree Rogers set a season-high mark last week against Hawai’i with 115 receiving yards on eight catches and two touchdown receptions. Rogers is one of two players in the Mountain West to have a single game with 100 or more receiving yards and multiple touchdown receptions. Earlier today, the wide out was announced to the Biletnikoff Award Watch List, recognizing college football’s most outstanding FBS receiver.
Running back Elijah Porter scored his second rushing touchdown of the season while quarterback Taron Dickens had his first multiple touchdown game of the year for the Huskies.
Cornerback Yassine Falke nabbed his fourth interception of the season, tied for third in the FBS and most by a NIU player in a single season since 2017. Linebackers Brady Kerperin and Jack Murray lead the Huskies in tackles with 49 each. Defensive back Avery Jones finished last week with seven tackles and one pass breakup.
UNLV (4-3, 2-1 MW) enters the game coming off a bye week. The Rebels had a three-game winning streak snapped by Air Force last time out.
Running back Jai’Den Thomas has been one of the most productive backs in the MW, rushing for 543 yards on 112 attempts, second most in the conference. Quarterback Jackson Arnold has started each game this season, throwing for over 1,300 passing yards and adding another 400 on the ground with 16 total touchdowns.
Safety Jake Pope leads UNLV in tackles with 63 and ranks third in the conference in tackles per game. Defensive back Mumu Bin-Wahad has three interceptions this season along with 19 tackles. Safety Tre Fulton is the team’s sack leader with 3.5.
NIU heads to San José State for its next game on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 3 p.m..
