While playing in a conference known for producing National Football League quarterbacks, Northern Illinois senior running back Garrett Wolfe was out to prove that there is top talent at other positions in the Mid-American Conference. Wolfe, who has six straight games of over 170 yards rushing, showed Buffalo that this may be the case as he torched the Bulls defense for 270 yards on 24 carries and two touchdowns in the Huskies 34-14 win Saturday night.
"He's one of the best because of his size," said senior Buffalo linebacker Ramon Guzman. "They say he's too small that that's a weakness. To him it's a strength. As quick he is, he gets down low and he runs hard. If you judge him by his size, then you're going to be deceived."
For the second consecutive week the Bulls allowed over 300 yards rushing as the Huskies rolled up 344 yards on the ground, compared to the Bulls' 99. To go along with Wolfe, Northern Illinois running back Montel Clayton racked up 95 yards on 10 carries, including a 58-yard touchdown scamper.
Head coach Turner Gill understands that the Bulls will not be able to remain competitive until the team can consistently stop the run.
"It's a big concern, you obviously have to stop the run," Gill said. "You have to stop the run to make a team throw the football."
Coming into the game Gill had a game plan to stop the run but admits that it was unsuccessful at times. There were too many times when Wolfe was taking on single Buffalo defenders instead of being gang tackled by the Bulls.
"We tried to (stop the run). Obviously it didn't get done," Gill said. "Our biggest emphasis was to try to get as many people around the football as possible. Try to get three, four, five guys in the gaps because if there's any little small crease he's going to be able to make some plays."
One lead for the Bulls was sophomore wide receiver Terrance Breaux, who had a career game with eight catches for 104 yards and one touchdown. Breaux was Willy's main target, while the offense had their best game through the air, as Willy went 25-41 for 250 yards and the one touchdown.
"He told us all week in practice that he was going to open it up and throw in a little more, I guess I was just open a little more," Breaux said.
Northern Illinois jumped out to a great start as the Huskies took a 17-0 lead into halftime, racking up 255 yards of offense. However, the Bulls came to life on their final drive of the first half, driving 70 yards on 14 plays to the Northern Illinois 21-yard line. Yet the team had used all of its time outs earlier in the half and the clock ran out before the Bulls were able to snap the ball on a last second field goal.
"We have to get better execution the whole ball game," Gill said. "You can't go in spurts, you have to have some consistency moving the football."
The Bulls came out in the second half and started where it had finished the first half. The Bulls marched 91 yards down the field on 15 plays for a touchdown. The score cut the Huskies lead to 17-7, but this was as close as the Bulls would come the rest of the game.
"We came back and got it as close as 17-7," Gill said. "We thought we would be able to make a play here and there, but we weren't able to do that. Their defense played well. They came after us, they blitzed us, and caused a little bit of havoc for us."
Though the team is disappointed with the last two weeks results, Gill recognizes that the team is still learning how to finish off games and it must continue to play hard.
"They're disappointed," Gill said. "They're doing a lot of competing, as far as competing every play, and that's what we talk about. Don't worry about the scoreboard, we have to compete on every single play."
The road will not get any easier for the Bulls as they will travel to second-ranked Auburn Tigers and their All-American candidate running back Kenny Irons. The game is scheduled for Saturday with kick off slated for 2:30 p.m. at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
