Johnson and Hampton lead Northern Illinois over MAC leader Western Michigan 42-28

KALAMAZOO, Mich. - Telly Johnson Jr. ran for 141 yards and two touchdowns and Northern Illinois beat Mid-American Conference leader Western Michigan 42-28 on Wednesday night.

Western Michigan (5-4, 4-1) ended its three-game home winning streak and hasn’t started 5-0 in conference play since its undefeated 2016 season. The Broncos dropped into a four-way tie atop the league standings.

Northern Illinois (5-4, 2-3) has won three straight in the series.

Johnson scored on a 6-yard run and his 26-yard touchdown stretched the Northern Illinois lead to 42-21 late in the third quarter.

"We had a great 10 days of preparation, and we talked about ‘let’s be us’ and that was us tonight," NIU head coach Thomas Hammock said according to NIU athletics. "We played well enough [to win] in all three phases. We scored 42 points on offense, we had a kickoff return for a touchdown, we had three turnovers on defense, that’s complementary football."

Ethan Hampton completed 13 of 16 passes for 156 yards with two touchdowns for Northern Illinois (5-4, 2-3). Gavin Williams also had a touchdown run and catch for the Huskies. Cam Thompson scored on a 91-yard kickoff return.

Hayden Wolff was 14-of-27 passing for 179 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions for the Broncos. Jaden Nixon ran for 95 yards and two scores.

Wolff threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Mareyohn Hrabowski with 11:49 left to cap the scoring. The Huskies answered with a 12-play, 42-yard drive that ate 7:24 off the clock, but Kanon Woodill missed a 43-yard field goal.

The Western Michigan offense entered averaging a conference-best 44.8 points per game while the Northern Illinois defense leads the league allowing 17 points.

"[WMU] is the number one offense in the MAC and we outproduced them today," Hammock said. "I thought we ran the ball well, I thought our offensive line did a great job changing the line of scrimmage."