BROOKLINE – A contest that pitted the number one Atlantic-10 rushing offense against the number one A-10 defense turned in a masochistic trouncing as the Huskies exploded for 543 total yards against a beleaguered Rhode Island defense. The Huskies rammed through Rhode Island for a 38-13 victory Saturday in front of 1,004 soggy fans.
In less than ideal conditions sophomore quarterback Shawn Brady (17-23 for 223 yards) had a career day, piling up 264 total yards and throwing for five touchdowns. Tyler Grogan (1 catch, 7 yards), Eric Thomas (2 catches, 37 yards), and Peter Harris (4 catches, 29 yards) all caught the first touchdown receptions of their respective collegiate careers.
Northeastern is off to its first 5-1 start since 1968.
“I’ve been watching a lot of Northeastern game tape, even before this year and before I got to Rhode Island, and I really believe this is the best Northeastern team ever,” said URI coach Tom Stowers. “We got whipped on the offensive and defensive lines today. They just played with more intensity than us. The mark of a good football team is to create some distance like that, and that’s exactly what they did.”
NU came out ready for the Rhode Island offense, a dynamic option-based unit that was averaging 345 rushing yards per game before it ran into the Northeastern defensive wall. The Dogs held freshman quarterback Jayson Davis to five completions for 54 yards on the day. Two weeks after running for 194 yards and two touchdowns against Brown, he could manage only 12 yards on 11 carries against the Husky defense. NU allowed the Rams only 83 total rushing yards.
Sophomore middle linebacker Liam Ezekiel led the Huskies with 12 tackles. “We all had our specific assignments and everyone did a good job with them,” Ezekiel said. “We were all flying around out there, everyone wants to be in on the tackle.”
After a defensive hold by Northeastern to start the game, the Huskies looked as if they would continue their previous woes from last week’s loss to Delaware on the following two plays. An Anthony Riley (16 rushes, 80 yards) fumble was recovered by URI, and on the next down, an Art Smith interception was called back due to a defensive pass interference penalty. URI took advantage of the mistakes, driving the remaining 30 yards while breaking into the end zone on a 14-yard strike from Davis to Michael Peterson.
It was there the NU offense embarked on its near record-setting day. The ensuing URI kickoff was returned by junior wide receiver Curtis Gulliam deep into Rhode Island territory, and it didn’t take long for the Brady Bunch to knot the score up at 7. After four consecutive rushes, Brady dropped back in the pocket and dumped his pass over an intruding URI defensive end and into the hands of Peter Harris (8 rushes, 48 yards). Harris, the junior tailback that has been out much of the last two years due to injuries, raced to the goal line for a 10-yard score.
“It was great to get Peter out there,” said head coach Don Brown. “The last couple of weeks he’s been looking like he’s more and more ready and the coaching staff has been working him into the game plan. For us, everything starts with the run game. If you can run it, which we were able to do today, all of the sudden the play action is there, some lanes open up.”
A costly roughing the passer penalty on a fourth down late in the first quarter gave URI new life, aiding them in their effort to tack on three more points before the half. Little did the URI faithful know, however, their team was, for the most part, done scoring.
The two teams then traded punts before Shawn Brady got his hands on the ball with a little under seven minutes to go in the half at the Rhode Island 48-yard line. Brady soon added to his touchdown total. As he dropped back at the 15-yard line with the pocket collapsing, the sophomore stepped up and tossed a high arching ball to Corey Parks in the right corner of the end zone. Brady had his second touchdown of the day, and all the points NU would need to dispense of the Rams.
But he wasn’t nearly done yet.
With little over a minute remaining in the half, NU got the ball back and Brady carried the team on his shoulders, leading them to a 9-play, 93-yard scoring drive culminating with a 6-yard strike to true freshman Eric Thomas.
“We were taking our timeouts and trying to save time coming into the half because I thought we could get some points. Obviously, it really backfired on us,” Stowers said. “Brady has been improving each and every game, I was really impressed with him today.”
Brown was equally impressed with his quarterback, especially during the scoring drive before halftime.
“For us to get on the field with that two minute drill showed a lot of growth and maturity,” Brown said. “I can’t say enough about Shawn. He was really the guy today. I think the measure of a good quarterback and a good football player is in wins and losses, not yards, and Shawn is now 9-3 as a starter.”
Brady was accepting of the praise after the game, but not without modesty.
“It’s easy for me to get all the credit, but I just threw it up there today and let our guys use their size and talent to just go get the ball,” Brady said. “The [offensive] line was great today too, they don’t get any credit, but they really do the hard work.”
The Huskies took the second half kickoff and never looked back. It was much of the same for Brady and company. At the 2:58 mark of the 3rd quarter he again hooked up with Thomas for his fourth score of the game, and Thomas’ second touchdown reception.
Late in the fourth quarter, Brady finished off his five touchdown day with a 7-yard scoring pass to junior Tyler Grogan. The fake hand off to Anthony Riley froze defenders in their tracks, and Grogan easily outreached the URI cornerback for his first career touchdown.
Brown was pleased with his team’s performance.
“We came out the first couple of weeks this year and responded to every challenge, but we got our first piece of real adversity this week and I wanted to see how the team would respond. I got what I expected,” he said.
