Lynch a load for Northern Illinois

Jordan Lynch, Northern Illinois' returning starter at quarterback, set FBS records for a quarterback last year with 1,815 rushing yards, and 12 100-yard rushing games. He also passed for 3,138 yards and 25 touchdowns, and rushed for 19 more.

He is regarded as a Heisman Award hopeful for the Huskies (1-0), who play at Idaho (0-2) today at the Kibbie Dome.

"He's big and he's strong and he plays with passion and emotion," Idaho coach Paul Petrino said of the 6-foot, 216-pound Lynch. "He kind of reminds you of (Tim) Tebow. He's a winner, he finds a way, whatever it takes for his team to move the ball ... he's big and he's physical and he runs hard. But as much as anything, he has a will to win, and he does a good job of leading his team. We definitely have to stop him, we can't let him just grind the ball out, run it down our throat."

Northern Illinois, a Mid-America Conference school which crashed the BCS last year, losing 31-10 to Florida State in the Orange Bowl, opened this season with a 30-27 win at Iowa. Lynch passed for 275 yards and three touchdowns, and rushed for a team-high 56 yards against the Hawkeyes.

The Huskies, who have been to five straight bowl games, were idle last week.

Northern Illinois was scheduled to fly into Lewiston on Friday, go through a walk-through at the Kibbie Dome, then bus to Spokane, where the team will stay that night, then bus back down to Moscow for the game.

"You know, Washington State is playing a home game and there are only like three hotels in the area so Washington State gets one, Idaho gets one and the team Washington State is playing gets one," Northern Illinois coach Rod Carey said. So we got the odd man out."

Notes: Carey is familiar with the Kibbie Dome. He was an assistant at North Dakota when that school played at Idaho in 2010, losing 45-0. "It just keeps all the noise right in there," he said of the Dome. "The air is a little thick to breathe sometimes too." ... When Petrino was introduced as Idaho coach last fall, Idaho athletic director Rob Spear pointed to Northern Illinois, a team from a non-power conference (Mid-American Conference) that made it to a BCS game, as an example of what Idaho could be someday.