NIU Football - Bowlbound This Year?

I think YES! Northern is off to a 3-2 start, with the losses coming against Wisconsin and Idaho. Their big win against Purdue set them up for a powerful season.

Even better, the Huskies lucked out with an relatively light schedule this year. Let's look at who they face for the rest of the season:

Toledo (17 Oct) - This would seem like a pretty balanced fight, with both teams at 3-2 so far this season. But take a look at Toledo's three wins - an upset against Colorado (1-3), and then Florida International (0-4), and Ball State (O-5). A combined record of 1 - 12. Not exactly strong opposition. NIU should be able to knock Toledo off, as long as they don't choke.

Miami of Ohio (24 Oct)- Miami is currently 0-5.

Akron (31 Oct) - Akron is currently 1-3, with their one win coming against Morgan State, a Mid-East Athletic Conference team.

Eastern Michigan (5 Nov) - another MAC school sitting at the bottom of the charts with an 0-4 start thus far.

Ball State (12 Nov) - another team currently at 0-5.

Ohio (21 Nov) - NIU will have a nine-day rest before they take on Ohio, who are currently 3-2. But like Toledo, look at the schools Ohio has beaten: North Texas (1-3), Bowling Green (1-4) and Cal Poly (2-2) from the Great West Conference.

Central Michigan - Currently 4-1, and will probably be the team for NIU to beat to win the MAC West, But other than their impressive win over Michigan State, their three other wins were against Alcorn State (0-3), Akron (1-3) and Buffalo (1-4). This will be a tough game for NIU nonetheless as CMU seems to be the team to beat in the MAC this year.

Northern needs to win 4 more games to get that magic 7 wins. Between 24 October and 12 November, NIU plays four teams with a combined record of 1 - 17. These should be walkovers. As long as they don't choke, they should be able to handle both Toledo and Ohio. That just leaves CMU - the last game of the regular season. Even with one or two off days, NIU should go 8-4, at the worst, and possibly 9-3.

The MAC will get three bowl bids this year - the GMAC, International, and Little Caesars (the old Motor City Bowl), and could get more slots if other conferences fail to have enough bowl-eligible teams (which is how NIU eeked into the Independence Bowl last year with a mediocre 6-6 record). So, which one to hope for: Detroit (cold), Toronto (very cold) or Mobile (never cold). Hmmmm.