MOBILE, Ala. — Arkansas State led Northern Illinois 13-0 during the first quarter of Sunday night’s GoDaddy. com Bowl when everything changed at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.

Red Wolves linebacker Demario Davis pulled Northern Illinois fullback Pat McAvoy to the turf after a shovel pass on a fake 32-yard field goal, and McAvoy appeared to come up a yard short at the 12.

But game officials put the ball at the 11, giving Northern Illinois a first down, then denied ASU interim coach David Gunn’s call for a review of forward progress, which is not allowed under NCAA rules

Two plays later, Northern Illinois quarterback Chandler Harnish passed 9 yards to receiver Perez Ashford on a curl route for a touchdown — the start of 31 consecutive points as the Huskies rolled to a 38-20 victory.

“That was a real big momentum switch,” ASU cornerback Chaz Scales said. “We believed we stopped them, but the ref’s final word is what is. We dropped our heads for a tad bit, and they punched it in for the score.”

Call it a bad break, something ASU did not see often during a 10-2 regular season, but that second-quarter sequence fit into a month where every development added a degree of difficulty to the Red Wolves’ run up to the program’s first bowl game since 2005.

“The past month has been tough on us, and I don’t know if that swayed anything toward this game,” said Taylor Stockemer, who led ASU with 11 catches for 185 yards and a touchdown.

In early December, Coach Hugh Freeze departed for the head coaching job at Ole Miss. Four assistant coaches, including defensive coordinator Dave Wommack, followed Freeze to Oxford, forcing ASU to move up two graduate assistants into full-time roles and bring in two volunteer coaches.

On the field, the Red Wolves’ secondary played without starting cornerback Darron Edwards and reserve safety Jaquan Kilcrease, who were ruled academically ineligible. The Red Wolves’ depth at receiver took a hit when R.J. Fleming departed for Natchez, Miss., hours before the game Sunday, learning that his mother died of gunshot wound to the chest and his father is suspected in the slaying.

And with five minutes left in the half, senior Dwayne Frampton, ASU’s leading receiver, limped off the field after a 5-yard catch and was helped to the locker room. Inside, he sent out a message on Twitter: “Tore my MCL [medial lateral ligament] ...”

“Everything just started going downhill,” said quarterback Ryan Aplin, who completed 30 of 58 passes for 353 yards, with 1 touchdown and 3 interceptions.

It didn’t start out that way. ASU scored on its first three possessions — two field goals and a touchdown — and led 13-0 with 5:08 to play in the first quarter.

ASU did not score again until 11:12 remained, ending a stretch of 10 consecutive possessions that ended with six punts and four turnovers.

By then, Northern Illinois had a 31-20 lead.

Gunn, who is assured a spot on Gus Malzahn’s staff, dismissed the impact of wholesale changes to the coaching staff.

“Our administration moved very quickly to make sure we had everything we needed to be successful,” Gunn said. “The staff was not an issue. ... Certainly, we weren’t shorthanded.”

Sports, Pages 24 on 01/10/2012