MAC football on Wednesday night and we will see the Northern Illinois Huskies travel to the Glass Bowl to take on the Toledo Rockets. The game has a start time of 8:00 pm (Eastern) and be will televised on ESPN. Vegas odds have Northern Illinois listed as 2.5 point favorites, while the total sits at 73.
Analysis: The Huskies improved to 10-0 last week with an impressive 48-27 victory over Ball Sate. Northern Illinois is hoping to reach a BCS Bowl for the second consecutive season, which is certainly possible if it continues winning as it is currently sits 16th in the BCS rankings. NIU has been arguably the top non-major conference program since Jordan Lynch took over under center in 2012, as the QB is 22-2 as a starter in his career. Lynch is ranked fifth nationally in total yards per game at 348.9 this year, while in his career he is one of just nine players in FBS history with more than 3,000 career rushing yards and 5,000 career passing yards. Lynch has a couple of top wideouts that he loves to throw to, as Da'Ron Brown and TommyLee Lewis have combined for 115 catches, 1,315 yards and 12 touchdowns this season. The Huskies are 4th in the nation in total offense and 6th in scoring offense (44.6 ppg) while on defense they have allowed a mediocre 25.2 ppg, while ranking 88th in total defense.
Toledo has compiled a 7-3 overall record and is coming off a thrilling 51-41 victory over Buffalo, which came into the contest with a perfect conference record. The Rockets have won 5 in a row and they have been on fire, offensively, during their winning streak, posting an average of 45.2 ppg. Last week they racked up 601 yards of total offense and scored 51 points against the Bulls, who had allowed a total of 53 points over their previous six outings. With star halfback David Fluellen still sidelined with an injury, rookie Kareem Hunt registered his fourth straight 100-yard game with a season-high 186 yards last week. Fluellen is listed as questionable for this game. Terrance Owens has had a solid year under center, completing 61.7% with 13 Tds and 6 INTs and his favorite target has been Bernard Reedy, who has racked up 55 receptions for a team-high 736 yards on the season. Although Toledo allowed more than 600 yards to the Bulls in its last appearance, it is still in the middle of the pack in the MAC rankings with average yields of 27.7 points and 415.1 yards per game.
Pick: I know how good Toledo has been at home this year, and that they are on a roll, but I have to go with the Huskies in this one. The Huskies are the better team in this matchup and are playing for a shot at a second consecutive trip to a BCS bowl. They still have a ton to play for and I feel they will show up to play just like they did vs a very good Ball State squad last week. Sure they had problems pulling away in that game, but their ground attack really wore out Ball State late and I see that happening here as well. Toledo will make a game of it, but in the end I expect Northern Illinois to still be undefeated with a win by a TD.
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