Chiles, Himon II Ignite Northwestern Offense in 41-7 Rout of Colorado

By Charlie Spungin, NUSports.com

Over the offseason, Northwestern made significant investments in its offense. It started by bringing in one of the greatest minds in college football history, offensive coordinator Chip Kelly.

Then, just one week later, fourth-year quarterback Aidan Chiles committed to the Wildcats.

Now, over eight months later, all of college football is seeing the investment come to fruition. Kelly and Chiles led Northwestern to a dominant 41-7 victory over Colorado just two weeks after downing South Dakota State, 34-18.

During Saturday night’s contest, Chiles completed 17-of-22 passes for 241 passing yards and three passing touchdowns. He also ran in two touchdowns by himself. The Long Beach, Calif., native is the first Wildcat quarterback to record 3+ passing touchdowns and 2+ rushing touchdowns in a single game since Zak Kustok in 2001 (vs. Bowling Green).

“The one thing that I really appreciate about Aidan and Chip and [Quarterbacks Coach] Jerry [Neuheisel] and that partnership is [they] come off the South Dakota State game, [and] it’d be easy to be like, ‘Oh, [Aidan] played really [well],’ Dan and Susan Jones Family Head Football Coach David Braun said. “No, he’s showing back up on Monday and getting coached really hard. He knows that, and he wants that.”

Kelly has led Northwestern to 75 points through the first two games of the season, marking the program’s highest-scoring two-game stretch since November 2017 and its highest-scoring start to a season since 2013.

Chiles has had a historic start to his season. His dual-threat ability has been game-breaking for the Wildcat offense, as he is just the fifth Big Ten quarterback since 1995 to have 4+ total passing TDs and 3+ total rushing touchdowns in the first two games of a season.

“I talked to Coach [Kelly],” Chiles said. “He’s given me the reins. That’s my job. I’m supposed to drive the car, to lead the team, and that’s what I’m here to do.”

Fifth-year running back Joseph Himon II had a day to be remembered as well, hauling in three receiving touchdowns from Chiles. Himon had 54 kick return yards, 46 receiving yards and 28 rushing yards en route to becoming the first Big Ten running back to record at least 100 all-purpose yards and three receiving touchdowns in a single game since at least 1995.

Himon’s three receiving touchdowns eclipsed the two he had recorded in his entire career entering the contest. The veteran has spent his entire career at Northwestern and thus has seen the offensive transformation that Kelly has brought with him.

“He’s a great coach, a great offensive mind, knows the ins and outs of football,” Himon said of Kelly. “He allows us to be in a position to go out there and execute. It’s just all the work that we put in during the offseason, just reps after reps after reps. We get stressed so much during practice and during the week that when we come out here on Saturdays, it’s pretty much easy. It’s a blessing to have a coach like him to put us in a position like that.”

Chiles said that Northwestern’s Week 2 bye gave the team the ability to be 100% ready and prepared for the Week 3 test.

“We did our job,” Chiles said. “We knew what we were supposed to do. We studied. There were things that we saw that we knew we could exploit, and we came out, and they came out in what we expected and what we wanted to see. Then, we came out, and we executed. It all goes back to the execution.”

To Braun, what makes Kelly such an incredible playcaller is his adaptability. He noted that the up-tempo pace Kelly employed at previous stops, such as Oregon and UCLA, hasn’t been as prominent with the Wildcats, as Kelly has tailored his approach to the team’s strengths.

By any measure, the Wildcat offense was dominant on Friday night. The team’s 41 points and victory served as a fitting sendoff to Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium, where Northwestern won its final five games. Braun was quick to applaud the performance of Chiles and can’t wait to see what lies ahead for the transfer.

“I was proud of his poise throughout the game, his playmaking ability,” Braun said. “There were some plays that certainly went off script, but his athleticism and his ability to keep his eyes downfield, that’s really hard to defend. Just really excited for him to continue to grow in this offense.”