The Northern Illinois Huskies host the Western Michigan Broncos tonight in college football action tonight. The game is scheduled for an 8:00 p.m. start time and it will be televised nationally on ESPN2. Currently the betting odds for the game have the Huskies favored to pick up the victory at home.
Western Michigan and Northern Illinois are playing an elimination game in this one tonight, both are 5-1 in the MAC West standings, sitting behind the Toledo Rockets. UNI owns a head-to-head victory over those Rockets, if they win tonight over the Broncos they will have an inside lead on heading to Ford Field to play in the conference title game. The same could also be said for Western, which still has to play Toledo next week in the regular season finale.
Northern Illinois won the MAC last season, but they are still playing without quarterback Drew Hare, who went down to injury a few weeks back. Ryan Graham has taken over and done a serviceable job, playing good enough against Buffalo to earn a victory.
WMU could not keep Bowling Green from putting points on the board through three quarters last week, but also were kept from scoring points themselves in the second half. The Broncos have to find a way to utilize Jamauri Bogan and Jarvion Franklin tonight out of the backfield, the duo have been excellent and should carry a big load.
The Broncos also have two receivers that will catch more than 1,000 yards worth of passes. Daniel Braveman and Corey Davis have combined to snag 159 tosses for better than 2,000 yards and 19 touchdowns. That is a good amount of production from the position, though weather tonight is expected to be less than stellar, which could slow down the air attack.
Both teams can run the football well, UNI’s is more of a focal point with Joel Bouagnon (1,105 yards, 17 TDs) and the quarterback. Expect both teams to keep the football on the ground in this one and note the total keeps coming down.
Western Michigan is tough, if they are successful running the football they can win.
Free Pick: Western Michigan
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