PROVO, Utah (AP) — Marcus Childers capped the opening drive of the second half with a 1-yard touchdown run and Northern Illinois defeated Brigham Young 7-6 in a defensive struggle on Saturday.
The Huskies (5-3) had 84 yards of total offense in the second half, 65 coming on a 10-play drive that included three third-down conversions. The third was a holding penalty on BYU on third-and-2 at the Cougars 3.
Skylar Southham had a 35-yard field goal late in the first quarter and a 22-yard late in the third but he missed on a 51-yard attempt with 9:27 to play. The career long for the freshman kicker is 47 yards. After getting a first down at the NIU 29, an incompletion and two tackles for loss for 5 yards forced the long field goal attempt.
BYU (4-4) had 301 yards of offense.
The teams combined to go 6 of 29 on third down and 3 for 3 in the red zone. There was just one turnover.
