This is the Depth Dossier: the Northern Illinois Huskies, Week 9.

Northern Illinois finally looked like a real offense on Saturday, and it still wasn't enough, as the Huskies fell to UNLV 31 to 24 for their tenth straight loss.

Northern Illinois built a 17 to 10 lead in the second quarter behind a running game that actually showed up. Quarterback Taron Dickens threw for 253 yards and two touchdowns and added 50 yards on the ground, and running back Elijah Porter ran for 113 yards. Then UNLV scored three straight touchdowns to flip the game, the Huskies' offense went quiet in the fourth quarter, kicker JJ Schlenhardt missed field goals from 47 and 54 yards, and the defense couldn't get UNLV quarterback Jackson Arnold off the field when it mattered. Northern Illinois is 0 and 8, and this one stings more than most because of how close it was.

Here's the strange part. By the numbers, Northern Illinois should have won this game. The Huskies out-gained UNLV 493 yards to 473, controlled the ball for over 35 minutes, averaged 6.6 yards a play, and converted 9 of 17 third downs. That's a massive jump for a team that came in ranked near the bottom of the country in total offense. They nearly doubled their season rushing average, piling up 240 yards on the ground.

So why another loss? It came down to the fourth quarter. Northern Illinois dominated the first half, then completely fell apart late, getting shut out in the final period while UNLV's scoring run earlier had already swung momentum. Special teams didn't help, with both long field goal misses coming in a game decided by just seven points. And in the red zone, three touchdowns on four trips is solid, but not good enough when the game comes down to one score.

Defensively, it was more of the same trouble that's plagued Northern Illinois all season. They allowed 473 yards, split pretty evenly between the run and the pass, against an offense that had been converting third downs at a high rate coming in. Two interceptions were a bright spot, but this defense has struggled to get stops in crunch time, and that didn't change.

Now let's get into the depth chart, because there weren't any new injuries this week. This is about players earning bigger roles.

The headline is Porter, who carried the ball 21 times for those 113 yards, averaging over five yards a carry. Nothing's been officially announced about a change in the backfield pecking order, but after a performance like that, it's hard to see how he doesn't become the clear lead back going forward.

In the passing game, wide receivers George Dimopoulos and DeAree Rogers combined for 14 catches, 223 yards, and both of Dickens' touchdown throws, including a 61-yard score to Dimopoulos. Rogers followed up last week's breakout with another seven-catch game. Between those two, Dickens has clearly found his go-to targets, and Northern Illinois suddenly has a real one-two punch at receiver.

The one job that could be in question is at kicker. Schlenhardt made his short attempt but missed twice from long range in a seven-point loss. Nothing's been reported about a change there, but back-to-back misses of that size on a winless team tend to draw scrutiny.

The bigger issue, though, is still the defense. Northern Illinois has now allowed over 470 yards in back-to-back games. Until that unit finds a way to get stops late, performances like the ones we saw from Porter and Dickens are going to keep ending in losses.

Looking ahead, the question for Northern Illinois is simple. Can this offense show up again, and can the defense finally hold up when the game is on the line in the fourth quarter?

This was the depth dossier. For everything college football, be it depth charts, data or dossiers, head over to C F B Depth dot com. We will be back next week. This was an AI-generated podcast from content developed by real human beings passionate about college football.