Northern Illinois beats Idaho 42-35

9/22/2007 7:59 PM

MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) -Costly mistakes by the Idaho Vandals helped the visiting Northern Illinois Huskies earn a 42-35 nonconference victory on Saturday.

Justin Anderson led NIU (1-3) with 167 yards on 35 carries and a touchdown. Huskies quarterback Dan Nicholson went 10-for-17 and a pair of touchdown passes.

Idaho (1-3) was led was Deonte Jackson, who rushed for 111 yards and scored two touchdowns.

The Vandals jumped ahead 7-0 on an 8-yard Jackson touchdown, but the Huskies (1-3) answered quickly when Nicholson found Matt Simon 59 yards down field to tie the score. Simon led the Huskies with 115 receiving yards.

The Vandals advanced to the Huskies 8 on the following drive, but NIU's Chase Carter intercepted a Nathan Enderle pass and took it the other way for a 95-yard score.

After another NIU touchdown that put the Huskies up 21-7, Jeff Fontana blocked and recovered an Idaho punt in the end zone for a 28-7 lead.

NIU's Larry English sacked Enderle with four minutes left in the first half, knocking the ball into the end zone. English fell on it for a 35-7 lead.

Idaho's Shiloh Keo gave the Vandals some hope when he returned a punt 100 yards with 34 seconds left in the half to make the score 35-14.

Jackson's second score of the day, an 8-yard run with 9:57 left in the third, made it 35-21. The Huskies got the points back on an eight-play, 93-yard drive capped by an 11-yard Anderson TD run.

Idaho made it 42-21 on a 10-yard pass from Enderle to freshman receiver Maurice Shaw. The Vandals took one last shot at the Huskies when Enderle found tight end Eddie Williams for a 15-yard touchdown with 1:01 left to play.

Idaho's Eric Greenwood recovered the ensuing on-side kick at NIU's 47 with 59 seconds left. The Vandals reached the NIU 17, but English sacked Enderle to end the game.