#1 BC defense stops Northern Illinois

The Eagles stymied the Huskies of Northern Illinois Saturday, holding them to 153 yards total offense and one offensive touchdown, and won 17-14. BC is 3-1, 0-1 in ACC play.

QB Troy Flutie

QB Troy Flutie

Redshirt freshman Troy Flutie (Doug’s nephew, Darren’s son) started for BC and threw his first career touchdown pass in the second quarter to begin the scoring. Flute started slowly, missing his first five passes before the touchdown, but ended up 5 of 11. He also threw an interception that NIU returned to the BC 4 and then scored a touchdown.

BC has not allowed any team this year to gain more than 100 yards rushing. The defense ranks #1 in the national statistically. (The 11 total yards BC allowed to Howard certainly helped the stats.)

The Eagles had 326 yards total offense against NIU, 234 on the ground. Jon Hilliman gained 119 yards on 24 carries, and true freshman QB Jeff Smith added 56 yards on 9 carries.

Northern Illinois came into the game following a close 20-13 loss to #1 Ohio State in which the Huskies gained 190 yards. NIU is the defending Mid-America Conference champion and won at least 11 games in the previous five consecutive seasons.

Highlights from the ACC:

BC visits Duke next, Saturday, October 3, at 12:30 pm PT. The Blue Devils upended Georgia Tech on Saturday, 34-20.

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