2022 Opponent Preview: Northern Illinois

With camp now heating up Cats Illustrated presses on its preseason series previewing Kentucky's 2022 football opponents.

So far we've taken a closer look at Miami-OH and Florida.

Youngstown State is Kentucky's third opponent, but we'll save our preview of the Penguins for game week when more information on that FCS opponent is available.

Today we turn the page to Northern Illinois, which Kentucky will face on September 24. Head coach Thomas Hammock is going into his fourth year as coach of the Huskies. Last year NIU finished 9-5 with a MAC Championship Game victory over Kent State and a 47-41 loss to Coastal Carolina in the Cure Bowl.

Offense

Quarterback Rocky Lombardi will be the senior captain of this NIU offense and he went for 2,597 yards (58.3%) with 15 touchdowns and eight picks a year ago. NIU did rack up 532 passing yards in a loss to Kent State last year but this was much more of a run heavy offense in 2021. NIU averaged a whopping 241 yards per game on the ground.

So how much of that powerful ground attack can carry over to this year? Leading rusher Jay Ducker (1,184 yards) is gone but two of the next three top running backs return and Lombardi is a threat to run (473 yards, 9 touchdowns). Four of five offensive line starters return but the Huskies could be rolling with a very young and inexperienced center in Pete Nygra, who saw spot duty last season as a true freshman.

NIU's passing attack shouldn't scare Kentucky but Trayvon Rudolph is a receiver to account for. He averaged 17.5 yards per reception (892 yards) and scored seven touchdowns last year. He has always been an explosive play threat for Hammock's squad.

Last year this passing game struggled to get off the ground. Lombardi failed to reach the 200 yard threshold through the air in the final four games of the season. Fortunately, he has one of the better offensive lines at the Group of Five level and was only sacked 11 times last year.

When you think NIU offense, think about a physical, capable unit that can create some explosive plays. This will be a veteran unit with a heady quarterback who has leadership intangibles.

However, even when NIU knocked off Georgia Tech 22-21, it only had 301 yards of total offense.

Defense

NIU's defense was an issue last year. The Huskies allowed 33.7 points per game, which was actually an improvement but still not close to as good as Hammock's first couple of defenses.

Opponents averaged 453 yards per game. NIU allowed 6.9 yards per play and that's not good enough in any conference. The Huskies only had 19 sacks a year ago as well.

The good news for NIU is it returns a lot of experience so that could be an opportunity for more marginal improvement. The goal should be to keep opponents under 30 points per game on average and that could be achievable.

Free safety CJ Brown led the team with 109 tackles, but this squad needs a lot more sacks, hurries, tackles for loss, and turnovers forced.

Perhaps the most troubling number for NIU's defense last year was the touchdown to interception ratio. Opposing quarterbacks tossed 27 touchdowns and only three interceptions all season. That reality coupled with opponents rushing for 214 yards per game illustrates well that this is a very vulnerable defense.

Special Teams

Kicker John Richardson is perfect on extra points the last two years and was 22/27 on field goals with a long of 47. He's a quality kicker. NIU is breaking in a new punter. Rudolph had a kickoff return for a touchdown last season.

Matchup Analysis

There are plenty of reasons for Kentucky fans to feel like this is a game the Cats would be wise not to sleepwalk through. NIU is capable of making things interesting if Kentucky brings its C effort or worse. But don't forget this team did lose to Michigan 63-10 last year as well.

NIU didn't upset Georgia Tech last season because it moved the ball at will against the Yellow Jackets. It gave up 271 rushing yards and barely cracked 300 yards itself in that game. This game will ultimately come down to whether Kentucky can avoid mistakes and finish drives because the talent is still lopsided in UK's favor.

NIU's defense doesn't present many problems for Kentucky on paper. Chris Rodriguez or whoever is in Kentucky's backfield should find rushing yardage readily available, and NIU didn't do anything in its pass defense last year that would suggest Will Levis will have difficulty picking the secondary apart.