Hawaii Dominates Northern Illinois in 56-21 Win

The victory revived Hawaii’s offense, set the longest U.S. conference-game travel mark and changed both teams’ Mountain West trajectories.

Overview

Hawaii beat Northern Illinois 56-21 on Oct. 24, building a 35-14 halftime lead en route to a decisive road victory.
Quarterback Micah Alejado completed 22 of 32 passes for 323 yards and three touchdowns that included two scoring strikes to Frank Abreu and one to Josiah Fetui.
Running back DeVon Rice rushed for 71 yards on 12 carries and scored three rushing touchdowns, while 12 different Hawaii players caught passes in the game.
The Rainbow Warriors traveled 4,255 miles from Honolulu to Dekalb, a distance reported as the farthest any FBS team has covered for a conference game in the United States.
Northern Illinois fell to 0-7 (0-3 Mountain West) in its first Mountain West season and will visit UNLV next, while Hawaii improved to 2-6 (1-4) and will play at UTEP on Nov. 7.