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The two worst scoring offenses in the country will face off Wednesday when the NIU football team heads to UMass. The Huskies (2-6 overall, 1-4 MAC) are 133rd nationally, averaging 12.2 points per game, while the Minutemen (0-9 overall, 0-5 MAC) are 134th at 11.3 points per game. The most points UMass has scored in a game this year came in a 27-26 loss to FCS Bryant. NIU hasn’t scored more than 21 points in a game this year. Kickoff is 6 p.m. Wednesday. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU. Here are three things to know. Hammock on the team’s struggles The Huskies are guaranteed the fourth losing season in coach Thomas Hammock’s seven seasons with the team, the first since a 3-9 campaign in 2022. Like a lot of Group of 6 teams, the Huskies lost a lot in the transfer portal during the offseason. With that and the lack of Name, Image and Likeness resources compared to other schools, Hammock said his mindset at the start of the season was not ideal. “I think part of my detriment at least early in the season was looking at some of the guys we lost and the things we don’t have,” Hammock said. “I looked at it the wrong way. I have to look at the things we do have. We have an unbelievable culture, an unbelievable university, an unbelievable athletic department and we have unbelievable players.” Hammock has always said the program has blocked outside noise, although with the Huskies’ struggles this year, especially after a 42-3 loss to Toledo last week, the outside noise is growing louder. But offensive lineman A.C. Curry said while the team knows it’s there, they’re not worried about what people outside the locker room think. “We see a lot of stuff online ... but we don’t let it bother us,” Curry said. “At the end of the day, it’s not like they’re playing. We hear a lot of stuff from the crowd during games. Again, they’re not playing. They’re just sitting there watching. At the end of the day we just strap up and let our pads talk.” Run defense since Ohio NIU entered the weekend 103rd in rushing defense nationally, allowing 171.4 yards per game. But only three times have the Huskies given up more than that number, including 333 yards in a 48-21 loss to Ohio and 292 yards in a 38-10 loss to Mississippi State. In the last two weeks, the Huskies have allowed 139 yards in a 21-7 win against Ball State and 134 in the loss at Toledo. Hammock said the run defense has been solid all year, and any issues stem from the defense being on the field too much. The Huskies are 105th nationally in time of possession at 28:39, one of the lowest totals in Hammock’s tenure. “They play a lot of football on defense,” Hammock said. “We need to do a better job playing complementary football on offense. Since I’ve been here, we’ve had the ball 32 minutes, 33 minutes, 34 minutes and that’s always helped out our defense. Last year we were a top-five defense, and it wasn’t because of how great we were all the time. They just weren’t on the field that much.” Hammock: Offensive woes stem from problems finding open receivers The Huskies are in the bottom three nationally in five categories, including total offense and passing offense. DeAree Rogers has graded out as a top wide receiver in the country according to various advanced metric sites, with 41 catches for 468 yards this year. That’s almost half of the Huskies’ 966 passing yards this year. Hammock said it’s up to quarterbacks Josh Holst and Brady Davidson to find the open receivers more. And he said the receivers have been open a lot this year. “You can always say we’re not doing anything in the passing game, but if you watch [the Toledo] game, we had receivers that were open,” Hammock said. “We did not hit them. I can’t keep talking about play-action pass or throwing the ball downfield. We have receivers that are getting open, and we have to find the way to get those guys the ball. That’s the bottom line.” The Huskies have three quarterbacks on the roster, including Jalen Macon. He’s competed in camp for the starting job the past couple of years, but has been used sparingly due to an injury in his throwing hand affecting his grip strength. Hammock said the recovery has gone slower than expected.
