Gear Up For Game Day: NIU Huskies

LARAMIE -- Jay Sawvel was candid about his three-year stint as the defensive backs coach and special teams coordinator at Northern Illinois.

"I loved my time there," Wyoming's current head coach said last Monday. "We built a monster."

Head coach Jerry Kill, taking over a two-win program in 2008, led the Huskies to postseason eligibility and a berth in the Independence Bowl. That win total reached seven the following fall. There was another bowl trip, too.

In 2010, Sawvel's last go-round in DeKalb, NIU won 11 games and hammered Fresno State 40-17 in what was then known as the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise.

That team fell in the season opener at Iowa State. Another setback came in Champaign two weeks later. The Huskies then ripped off nine straight victories, including a 34-23 road triumph over the University of Minnesota.

The performance no doubt helped land Kill the head job in Minneapolis just a few months down the road. Sawvel went with him.

Out of all that success, the one game that season that sticks out to Sawvel is the unthinkable loss that occurred in the MAC Championship game inside Detroit's Ford Field.

Miami (Ohio) was facing a 4th-and-20 at its own 28-yard line and needed a miracle. That's exactly what it got. Quarterback Austin Boucher, facing just a four-man front, went through a five-step drop before coasting to his left. The southpaw cruised all the way out to the numbers before firing up a prayer across his body down the middle of the field.

It was answered.

NIU linebacker Tyrone Clark appeared to have an easy, game-sealing interception. Instead, the heave ricocheted off his fingertips and into the awaiting arms of Redhawk wideout Chris Givens.

"We're in a loosened up cover-two," Sawvel recalled. "They throw a ball on the seam, a linebacker tips it and our safety comes up and hits the receiver. The tipped ball goes over both of their heads to one of their players."

When it was all said and done, that was a 31-yard gain.

Then came the true dagger.

NIU brought a safety blitz off the right-hand side. Boucher immediately spotted it and dumped a throw over the line of scrimmage into the hands of Armand Robinson, who was all alone at the 25-yard line. He easily coasted into the end zone, giving Miami a 26-21 upset.

Instead of "sacking the bats," as former Wyoming head coach Craig Bohl used to say, the Huskies headed to the blue turf determined to end that campaign on a high note. Sawvel said he has a "ton of respect" for former Fresno State legend Pat Hill. He always loved his motto of playing anyone, anywhere, anytime. In fact, the Bulldogs were coming off a win over Illinois, a program that beat NIU 28-22 in Week 3.

There's another omission, too.

"I'm talking to him the way I'm talking to you right now, and I'm sitting here thinking to myself, 'We're about to be putting an ass whooping on your team,'" Sawvel said with a smile.

That's exactly how it played out.

NIU rolled up 503 yards of total offense, including 203 on the ground. Chad Spann and signal caller Chandler Harnish were responsible for 167 of those and four touchdowns. The latter also completed 17-of-26 passes for 300 yards and a score in that 40-17 rout inside Albertsons Stadium.

That beatdown of the Bulldogs came almost 12 months after Wyoming knocked off that same FSU team in the New Mexico Bowl, 35-28. That took two overtimes.

Starting in that 2010 season, the Huskies reeled off 57 victories in a five-year span. Dave Doeren took the reins of the program and, with Kill's recruits, was facing off against Florida State in the 2012 Orange Bowl after crashing the Bowl Championship Series party.

Current Wyoming offensive line coach Joe Tripodi was on the NIU staff for that run.

"Jimmy Ward was a first-round pick and Jordan Lynch was a Heisman finalist," Sawvel said. "Chandler Harnish was a drafted quarterback. We had better skill. Three-quarters of that team would have been at Minnesota if it would have been under today's rules.

"... That team and the mindset that it had -- I thought that the Northern job was the best one that we did."

Here is all you need to know -- and the links -- for Wyoming's home tilt with Northern Illinois:

WHO: Northern Illinois (0-5, 0-1) at Wyoming (3-3, 2-1)
WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 17 at 1:30 p.m. MST
WEATHER: High of 66, Low 35, Sunny, Wind 8 mph
WHERE: War Memorial Stadium, Laramie, Wyo. (25,000-plus capacity)
TRAVEL: WyoRoad.info
STREAMING: CW
TV: CW
RADIO: Cowboy Sports Network
TICKETS: Wyoming Ticket office
BOX SCORE: ESPN
ROSTERS: Wyoming / NIU
HISTORY: Wyoming leads the all-time series, 17-12
BETTING ODDS: UW -8.5, O/U: 41.5
HEAD COACHES: Jay Sawvel / Rob Harley

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* Tripodi Witnessed 'Josh Allen Experience' from NIU Sideline

* PODCAST: Pokes Need to Start Different Kind of Streak

* Sandvik Earns Mountain West Weekly Honors After Perfect Outing

* Sawvel on Cade Brook: 'He's Just a Tough Dude'

* NIU Notebook: Sawve's Six-Point Success Plan

* Making the Grade: Bogar Becoming QB's Worst Nightmare