DEKALB, Ill. — Tommy Davis returned the opening kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown and Chad Spann ran for a career-high 174 yards and two scores to help Northern Illinois rout winless Eastern Michigan 50-6 on Thursday.

The Huskies (6-3, 4-1 Mid-American) won their third straight game, scoring on five straight possessions to take a 37-6 halftime lead.

Northern Illinois piled up 537 yards in total offense. It last topped 50 points in a 59-38 win over Western Michigan in October 2004.

“You want to get momentum and as a coach you worry about that,” said Huskies coach Jerry Kill, whose team became bowl eligible for the second straight year. “(But) I really didn't today. I saw the good focus in pregame and liked our energy before the game. The sideline was very into the game and we played with a lot of juice.”

Spann had scoring runs of 65 and 79 yards in the first half, and DeMarcus Grady threw 30- and 31-yard touchdown passes to Landon Cox. Grady passed for 119 yards, ran for 104 and had a 5-yard scoring run in the third quarter. Grady was filling in at quarterback for Chandler Harnish, a Norwell graduate, who is out with a knee injury.

Eastern Michigan (0-9, 0-5) twice drove inside the Northern Illinois 5 in the first quarter, but reached Huskies territory just once the rest of the way.