BOWLING GREEN -- So much for Northern Illinois busting up the Bowl Championship Series.
And goodbye to a shot at a major bowl bid.
Josh Harris threw for 438 yards and three touchdowns as No. 23 Bowling Green handed 12th-ranked Northern Illinois its first loss of the season, 34-18 on Saturday.
Harris was nearly unstoppable, breaking his career high for passing yards in what might have been the biggest Mid-American Conference game ever. Only once before -- in 1973 -- had two MAC teams ranked in the Top 25 met in the regular season.
The Huskies (7-1, 3-1 MAC) were just one of four unbeaten teams in major college football coming into the week and were 10th in the first BCS standings.
They had trailed in all but one of their victories this year, including wins over Maryland, Iowa State and Alabama and had become accustomed to falling behind early.
This time they fell behind early and could never recover.
"We got our butt kicked," Huskies coach Joe Novak said. "All season long we been following behind and sooner or later we wouldn't catch up."
Northern Illinois had no answer for Harris, who picked apart the defense with his short throws and ability to scramble out of trouble.
Harris was 27-of-43 with two interceptions. He also was the leading rusher with 89 yards.
His high-arching pass that hit Charles Sharon in stride for a 55-yard score put the Falcons up 34-10 with 2:46 left in the third quarter.
Harris stopped at midfield and pointed toward the sky, knowing that he had all but sealed the victory in front of 31,007 -- the first sellout at Bowling Green in 20 years.
"If there's a better quarterback in America, who is he?" Bowling Green coach Gregg Brandon asked.
Bowling Green (6-1, 3-0) scored on its first two possessions, jumping out to 14-0 lead in the opening three minutes.
The first drive took just 1:58, with the key play the second one of the game, when Harris threw to Craig Jarrett over the middle, and he rumbled 47 yards. P.J Pope capped the drive with a 3-yard scoring run.
The Falcons struck even more quickly the next time they had the ball, scoring in two plays. Harris threw to Pope over the middle for 46 yards, then found James Hawkins all alone for a 31-yard touchdown.
Three drives later, Harris threw a 17-yard scoring pass to a leaping Charles Sharon that gave Bowling Green a 24-3 lead with 10:06 left in the first half.
Michael Turner, who came into the game for the Huskies as the nation's second leading rusher averaging 132 yards a game, had just 87 yards on 18 carries.
Bowling Green's swarming defense gave Turner no room to move. He broke free just once on a long run, but what appeared to be a 68-yard touchdown in the first half was called back by a holding penalty.
The Huskies also continually made mistakes that killed drives. They had just three first downs in the first half and only began to move the ball when they went to a no-huddle offense in the second half.
Josh Haldi threw a pair of interceptions and was ineffective for much of the game. He finished 14-of-29 for 165 yards.
Novak wasn't about to dwell on the loss.
"We're 7-1 -- it's not like the season is over," Novak said.
Janssen Patton had three interceptions for Bowling Green.
Sharon had 123 yards receiving and Cole Magner had 100.
A year ago the roles were reversed. Bowling Green was undefeated and ranked in the Top 25 until Northern Illinois knocked off the Falcons 26-17.
"This is a great feeling, the exact opposite of last year," Harris said. "We wanted redemption."
Originally published Sunday, October 26, 2003
