CFB Handicapping: Ball St. Cardinals vs Northern Illinois Huskies
Ball State is back? The Cardinals are 6-4 and if they can sneak a win on Tuesday night they would be in the thick of the MAC West race.
Husky Stadium – Dekalb, IL
Tuesday November 15- 8:00PM
Moneyline:
Spread (ATS): Northern Illinois – 18.5
Over/Under:
Odds courtesy of 5Dimes
Ball State
Sure they would need some help but this is the best this team has been since Brady Hoke left for the West Coast. How are they doing it? This team is great in close games. All their MAC wins have been by 4 points or less. It is going to be hard to hold the Huskies down though.
You wouldn’t think that a team that lost 42-0 to a conference rival at home would have much chance to influence the championship race but they do. When Ball State is overmatched they get crushed (three of their 4 losses are by more than 30 points) but they have shown a knack for close ball games. Which one is this going to be…looking at the spread it looks like another blowout is imminent.
This is the third road game in a row for Ball State – a tough situation for any team. They are coming off a tight victory over Eastern Michigan but Northern Illinois has proven the last couple of weeks that they are the class of the MAC right now justifying every point in that +18.5.
I am not sure they will be able to slow the Huskies down and their offense just doesn’t have enough punch to threaten. A backdoor cover it possible though.
Northern Illinois
After a sluggish start Northern Illinois has been killing it in the MAC lately. They have won 5 in a row including 3 blowouts and two close road game they closed out when they could have gone either way. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
The Huskies are playing well overall but their offense has been superb lately scoring 31 or more points in every game on their current streak. In fact they have scored 31 or more in every game but one this season.
After Case Keenum there might not be a more productive QB in the nation than Northern Illinois QB Chandler Harnish. Harnish has already rushed for more than 1000 yards and has 29 combined rushing and passing TDs. In his last two games he has tossed 8 TDs with zero interceptions. This gutty, tough QB may not have NFL calibre skills but he is perfectly suited for the college game and this offense.
There are 4 teams with three losses ranked in the top 25 but I am not sure any are better (or playing better _than UNI is right now. I expect that they will have little trouble slicing through a week Ball State defense on their way to a third straight victory over the Cardinals.
The number is big but Northern Illinois has been covering at home – they are on a 7-1 ATS run.
Over/Under Pick:
ATS Pick: Northern Illinois -18.5
Score Prediction: Northern Illinois 49 – Ball State 17
