The Auburn tailback rambled 56 yards into the end zone with 2:47 left as the No. 20 Tigers survived a fourth-quarter rally to beat Northern Illinois 31-14 on Saturday.
"Rudi Johnson comes to play in the fourth quarter. Thank goodness," Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said. "We are 4-0 -- who would have ever thought that?"
It's Auburn's first 4-0 start since 1997, but it didn't come without a scare.
The Huskies (1-2) trimmed Auburn's 24-0 halftime lead to 10 points with a pair of TDs in a two-minute span of the fourth quarter.
Then Johnson, held to 54 yards on his first 22 carries, shook off a tackle behind the line and broke down the right sideline with 2:47 left. The 56-yarder, on third-and-2, gave him 110 yards, his fourth straight 100-yard effort. Johnson has scored fourth-quarter TDs in each of Auburn's games.
Northern Illinois is 0-8 against Southeastern Conference opponents.
"We didn't come to Auburn for a moral victory, but I was proud of the way our team came back in the second half," Huskies coach Joe Novak said. "The only thing I told them (at halftime) was I thought we could come in and compete and have a chance to win."
Leard was 15-of-19 for 174 yards, including TD passes to Reggie Worthy and Ronney Daniels in the first half. He also threw his first interception of the season.
His backup, Jeff Klein, threw a 7-yard TD pass to tight end Robert Johnson in the first half. Damon Duval added a 43-yard field goal on the final play of the half.
It would be the last damage Auburn's offense would do until Rudi Johnson's run. Leard played only the first and last series of the second half as coach Tommy Tuberville gave Klein and No. 3 quarterback Daniel Cobb action.
Leard bruised his hip in the first half and had stomach problems at halftime. Leard was 14-of-16 for 164 yards in the first half, with an interception in the end zone on his final attempt.
"It's hard to keep continity playing three quarterbacks," Tuberville said. "We wanted to play everybody we had no matter what happened."
The Tigers gained 289 first-half yards, even though Johnson managed just 19 yards on 11 carries.
The passing connection of Chris Finlen and Justin McCareins brought Northern Illinois back. Finlen finished 15-of-29 for 218 yards with a touchdown and an interception. McCareins caught 11 passes for 189 yards.
"Auburn is by far the best team that I have played against," McCareins said. "We came out in the second half and kept on fighting."
1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH FINAL
--- --- --- --- -----
N. Illinois 0 0 0 14 14
Auburn 7 17 0 7 31
First Quarter
Aub-Worthy 7 pass from Leard (Duval kick), 12:32
Second Quarter
Aub-Daniels 14 pass from Leard (Duval kick), 14:55
Aub-Ro. Johnson 7 pass from Klein (Duval kick), 10:27
Aub-FG Duval 43, :01
Fourth Quarter
NIU-Hammock 2 run (Grider kick), 12:09
NIU-McCareins 9 pass from Finlen (Grider kick), 9:53
Aub-Ru. Johnson 56 run (Duval kick), 2:47
NIU Aub
--- ---
First downs 22 22
Rushes-yards 42-129 35-189
Passing 239 222
Comp-Att-Int 17-35-2 21-29-1
Return Yards 20 16
Punts-Avg. 3-34.0 2-43.5
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 1-1
Penalties-Yards 5-64 7-76
Time of Possession 27:48 32:12
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-N. Illinois, Hammock 20-58, Turner 10-44, McCareins 2-16,
Perry 1-12, Urban 3-3, Rood 1-2, Finlen 4-(minus 3), Team
1-(minus 3). Auburn, Ru. Johnson 23-110, Daniels 1-58, Carter
4-27, Moore 2-11, Evans 1-6, Leard 1-(minus 1), Cobb 1-(minus 8),
Klein 2-(minus 14).
PASSING-N. Illinois, Finlen 15-29-1-218, Urban 2-5-1-21. Auburn,
Leard 15-19-1-174, Klein 5-8-0-38, Cobb 1-2-0-10.
RECEIVING-N. Illinois, McCareins 11-189, Fleck 5-41, Hammock 1-9.
Auburn, Daniels 3-55, Willis 3-39, Worthy 3-34, C. Robinson 3-23,
Evans 2-18, Ro. Johnson 2-13, Carter 1-11, Green 1-10, Ru.
Johnson 1-10, Moore 1-7, Diamond 1-2.
A-79,635.