Rush hour
Senior running back Thomas Rawls’ 270 rushing yards not only earned the Chippewas a win Saturday, his performance earned Rawls’ offensive lineman dinner.
“Later on in the fourth quarter with only three minutes (left), one of the offensive lineman told me I had to take them out to eat,” Rawls said. “I told them if we rush for 200 yards as a unit, I’d take them out.”
The Chippewas cruised to a 34-17 victory over Northern Illinois, due largely to Rawls’ record-breaking performance.
His 270 yards on the ground set a new personal best and was the most a Chippewa has rushed for since Robbie Mixon’s 377 rushing yards against Eastern Michigan University in 2002.
For the second consecutive week, he carried the ball 40 times and scored a pair of touchdowns.
“We tried not (to give Rawls 40 carries),” said head Coach Dan Enos. “I just kept saying, ‘when do you want to take him out?’” On CMU’s first possession against NIU, Rawls capped a 10-play, 86 yard drive, with a five yard touchdown run.
“It was very important for our momentum,” Enos said. “You come out and you get punched in the mouth like that, it’s how you respond. It was also very important to give our defense a chance to sit on the sidelines.”
The Chippewa defense kept the Huskies from scoring points on the following seven drives, allowing Rawls to propel CMU to a 21-7 halftime lead.
“They had a couple big plays on the first drive and we (regrouped),” said sophomore defensive back Tony Annese. “The offense went down and scored, so that was helpful. As a defense, we just try to get everybody playing physical, playing hard and that’s what we did the whole game.”
Rush's third quarter interception opened the possibility of a comeback for the Huskies, but Rawls was responsible for every yard on the ensuing drive before Rush threw a 13-yard touchdown to junior tight end Ben McCord.
Rawls tallied 189 yards on 24 carries in the second half, chewing up any hopes for a Huskie comeback. CMU led the time of possession battle 39:01 to 20:59 due largely to his efforts.
Rawls’ 870 yards is the seventh most in college football, even after missing two games this season. He has the fourth-most rushing attempts and seventh in rushing touchdowns in the nation.
“The guy’s a competitor, tough, runs very determined, very good vision,” Enos said. “A lot of little things that he does. Those three-yard runs become six and seven-yard runs, that’s a huge difference in calling your game and running your offense.”
