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Johnson, Williams each surpass 100 yards rushing to lead Northern Illinois over Akron 29-16

By AP News
Published  November 14, 2024 11:55am CST
Northern Illinois
Associated Press

Tina Nguyen goes 100 yards with NIU head coach Thomas Hammock

Thomas Hammock's phone lines have been pretty busy this week. That's what happens after you upset No. 5 Notre Dame. FOX 32's Tina Nguyen catches up with Hammock after his historic weekend.

Telly Johnson Jr. and Gavin Williams each ran for more than 100 yards, wide receiver Trayvon Rudolph accounted for two scores and Northern Illinois shut out Akron in the second half in a 29-16 victory on Wednesday night.

Johnson had 104 yards rushing on 21 carries. Williams ran nine times for 101 yards that included a 71-yard touchdown run that ended the scoring with 7:56 remaining.

"Tonight was a tough weather condition, tough elements," NIU head coach Thomas Hammock said according to NIU Athletics. "I thought we handled it for the most part. When you play a game like this, you have to have a great defense, which we do. You have to have a good running game, which we do.

Rudolph scored on a 58-yard reverse and threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Dane Pardridge, each in the first quarter. Ethan Hamilton's 32-yard touchdown pass to Grayson Barnes stretched the Northern Illinois lead to 23-16 with 5:32 to play before halftime.

Hamilton was 9-of-16 passing for 105 yards for Northern Illinois (6-4, 3-3 Mid-American Conference).

Ben Finley tossed a 40-yard touchdown pass to Adrian Norton for Akron (2-8, 1-5). Finley completed 19 of 52 passes for 205 yards. Noel Roach also blocked a punt for a touchdown for the Zips.

"I liked our run game, the offensive line is doing a phenomenal job. I like our defense, our defense played really, really stout today," Hammocks said. "We put them in some tough situations, but they kept responding. In the month of November, you have to be able to run the football."

The win over Akron was NIU's sixth win of the season. 

NIU will appear in its 15th bowl game since 2003. That's the most of any team in the Mid-American Conference.

"Being bowl eligible is a great thing for our seniors and it’s a great thing for our program," Hammock said. "The seniors put a lot into the program, I wanted to extend the season for those guys.  Now we can just go play and have fun and win as many games as we can down the stretch."