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NORTHERN ILLINOIS vs. TCU
ESPN'S TAKE | 
The story of this game was the TCU defense. It's hard to imagine many units with as much speed. DEs Tommy Blake and Chase Ortiz were downright dominant on the perimeter, as they bottled up star RB Garrett Wolfe and kept the heat on QB Dan Nicholson. Consider this: Wolfe accounted for 285 total yards against No. 1 Ohio State earlier this season. Wolfe finished with just 30 total yards against TCU. NIU's offense rushed for minus-22 yards in the first half. Nicholson completed only six of 18 passes with an interception. On the other side of the ball, senior QB Jeff Ballard did a fine job of managing the game. He threw for 258 yards and a touchdown, while also rushing for three more scores. TCU's offensive line was dominant in the trenches, paving the way for RBs Lonta Hobbs and Aaron Brown to rush for 161 yards.
-- Todd McShay
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| Team Stat Comparison | | |  |  | | 1st Downs | 5 | 23 | | Total Yards | 60 | 456 | | Passing | 80 | 258 | | Rushing | -20 | 198 | | Penalties | 0-0 | 7-80 | | 3rd Down Conversions | 2-14 | 7-15 | | 4th Down Conversions | 0-1 | 0-1 | | Turnovers | 1 | 0 | | Possession | 27:36 | 32:24 |
| Northern Illinois Passing | | | C/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | | D. Nicholson | 6/18 | 80 | 0 | 1 | | R. Morris | 0/1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Northern Illinois Rushing | | | CAR | YDS | TD | LG | | G. Wolfe | 20 | 28 | 0 | 7 | | J. Anderson | 3 | 4 | 0 | 3 | | B. Davis | 1 | -4 | 0 | 0 |
| Northern Illinois Receiving | | | REC | YDS | TD | LG | | J. Carter | 2 | 14 | 0 | 10 | | G. Wolfe | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | | M. Simon | 1 | 62 | 0 | 62 | | B. Davis | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| TCU Passing | | | C/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | | J. Ballard | 19/29 | 258 | 1 | 0 |
| TCU Rushing | | | CAR | YDS | TD | LG | | L. Hobbs | 18 | 109 | 1 | 16 | | A. Brown | 14 | 52 | 0 | 12 | | J. Ballard | 11 | 19 | 3 | 10 |
| TCU Receiving | | | REC | YDS | TD | LG | | Q. Harmon | 6 | 94 | 0 | 38 | | L. Hobbs | 3 | 61 | 0 | 32 | | D. Moore | 2 | 26 | 0 | 18 | | S. Reagan | 2 | 23 | 0 | 12 |
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| Official Web site |
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 (AP Photo/Jack Smith)
QB Jeff Ballard had three rushing TDs in TCU's dominating win.
Purple Power
From start to finish it was total domination by TCU as the Horned Frogs rolled to a 37-7 win over NIU. Senior QB Jeff Ballard lead the way with four total TDs, but the TCU defense was equally as impressive -- limiting the Huskies to just 60 total yards. Story … 
| Scoring Summary | | FIRST QUARTER | NIU | TCU | | TD | 12:03 | LONTA HOBBS 4 YD RUN (BLOCKED XP) Drive info: 3 plays, 26 yards. | 0 | 6 | | SECOND QUARTER | NIU | TCU | | TD | 14:49 | JEFF BALLARD 10 YD RUN (CHRIS MANFREDINI KICK) Drive info: 7 plays, 55 yards. | 0 | 13 | | FG | 0:00 | CHRIS MANFREDINI 25 YD FG Drive info: 12 plays, 77 yards. | 0 | 16 | | THIRD QUARTER | NIU | TCU | | TD | 12:06 | JEFF BALLARD 1 YD RUN (CHRIS MANFREDINI KICK) Drive info: 7 plays, 80 yards. | 0 | 23 | | TD | 9:08 | JEFF BALLARD 6 YD RUN (PETER LOCOCO KICK) Drive info: 3 plays, 19 yards. | 0 | 30 | | FOURTH QUARTER | NIU | TCU | | TD | 14:14 | JOHN TRANCHITELLA 32 YD BLOCKED PUNT RETURN (CHRIS NENDICK KICK) | 7 | 30 | | TD | 10:55 | BRENT HECHT 6 YD PASS FROM JEFF BALLARD (PETER LOCOCO KICK) Drive info: 6 plays, 62 yards. | 7 | 37 |
| SIMULATIONS FROM ACCUSCORE |
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Click here for individual projected statistics.
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