The Daily Chronicle: Smith brothers reach dream together

Northern Illinois defensive backs and twin brother Donald Smith (left) and Chris Smith have taken a long and winding road to DeKalb. The two dropped out of high school before earning their GEDs and attended community colleges in Iowa and Kansas and now play for the Huskies and are excelling in the classroom. (Beck Diefenbach – bdiefenbach@daily-chronicle.com)

The Chicago Tribune: Me'co Brown coming on strong for Northern Illinois

The sophomore leads the MAC and ranks 14th nationally in rushing with 110.3 yards per game. He unleashed a career-long 67-yard touchdown run against Purdue.

"He moved his feet, saw the holes and I was really pleased with a couple of big blocks," said NIU coach Jerry Kill, whose Huskies (2-1) host Idaho (2-1) Saturday.

Rockford Register Star: NIU's fake punt call delivers real results

They challenged a play they shouldn’t have. If they don’t challenge, we don’t fake,” said Sawvel, also the defensive backs coach who came over with Kill from Southern Illinois. “During the challenge, I knew Purdue had the momentum, and I looked at all my guys who had played their butts off the entire game, and I was like: ‘You know what, we can get these two yards.’ I asked (upback) Justin Anderson if he felt good about it, and he said, ‘Oh yeah.’ ’’

At that point, Sawvel told Kill over the headset, saying: “Hey, I think we need to run the fake.” After what Sawvel called a power pause, Kill replied: “Do you really think we have it?” Sawvel answered: “Two yards; we can get two yards.”

Fanhouse: Big Ten suspends Zach Reckman- Sore loser gets suspended

With Progar already down, Reckman jumped on top of him -- and hit Progar's ribs with his right hand for good measure.

From The Daily Chronicle:
Progar said after Tuesday's practice. "We got the win so I just went down. I didn't even notice that guy hit me afterwards either until I watched the film the other day. I didn't even notice. I thought it was one of my own players jumping on me."

Asked if he thought it was a cheap hit, Progar said, "No. I mean, it was but I don't really care."

Idaho Press: Alger: Vandals continue ascent to respect

UI's coming opponent, Northern Illinois, may have looked like a prospective question mark before the season began, but now this team is an exclamation point after beating one Big-10 team and narrowly losing to another.