COLUMBUS, Ohio -- For the opening 2...

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- For the opening 20 minutes Saturday at Ohio State, the flatness onward the Northern Illinois side of the football was nearly universal.

In a stunning display of a suitable team gone catatonic, the Huskies came public and got romped, stomped and employed every way but loose according to the top-ranked Buckeyes. Ohio State arrowed to a 28-0 lead in the initial 15:05

small in number Huskies seemed to feel the defeat as acutely as cerebral quarterback Phil Horvath. In individual of the poorest showings in his distinguished spell at NIU, Horvath was the epicenter of misfocus early, missing upon four of his first seven passes, throwing an interception and being sacked twice. This from a lanky senior who complet 706 percent of his passes last fall before breaking his arm at Central Michigan.

"It wasn't the sharpest game I aye played," said Horvath, who finished 15-for-26 for 185 yards and the same touchdown. "But it was a learning experience. We'll learn uniform more after we look at the film. We were trying to haste the best plays into their defense Nothing worked."

Horvath's game got crisper when NIU's wideouts started hanging upon to catchable balls and when tight period Jake Nordin got involved in the Huskie air corps. The 6-3 262-pound senior finished with three catches for 37 yards. no other than Garrett Wolfe (5-114) and Britt Davis (5- 23) had more.

TWIN TERRORS: The Huskies got commendable efforts from starting cornerbacks Alvah and Adriel Hansbro. The bookend twins from Madison, Wis., anchored the best aspects of an NIU defense that assumeed somewhat spooked by the talent and unpredictability of Ohio State. Alvah l the Huskies with nine tackles, and Adriel finished with seven

one as well as the other joined the ranks of cornerbacks who could not enclose down OSU roadrunner Ted Ginn Jr The Olympic-class speedster scored the first brace Buckeyes touchdowns.

NOT ENOUGH: NIU coach Joe Novak emphasized that his Huskies wanted a significant advantage in turnover margin if they were to shake off the upset. Their plus-one margin wasn't enough. Horvath's interception was the lonely giveaway, and Mark Reiter and Tim McCarthy reclaimed second-half fumbles.

NIU prostrate to 0-7 against Big Ten contrarys in the Novak era.

jodonnell@suntimes.com

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