Northern Illinois at Toledo Line
Written by Steve Janus - Google +
This Tuesday the Toledo Rockets and Northern Illinois Huskies will square off in what figures to be an entertaining Mid-American Conference showdown. Both teams are a respectable 5-3 on the season. Toledo sits on top the MAC West at 4-0, but the Huskies are just one-game back at 3-1. Northern Illinois absolutely dominated Toledo 65-30 at home last year, but the home team has won four straight in the series.
Taking a look at the week 10 college football spreads, oddsmakers currently have Toledo favored by 8-points over Northern Illinois with the total set at 69 points.
Northern Illinois Huskies:
The Huskies come in riding a 3-game winning streak after holding on for a 31-30 win at Buffalo, but there is reason to be concerned with how this team has played on the road. Northern Illinois was outgained 572 to 328 at Buffalo, and would have lost the game if it wasn’t for the Bulls turning it over five times. In the Huskies four games played away from Huskie Stadium, they have allowed no fewer than 534 yards of total offense. The Buffalo win is their only non home win this season.
With a defense4 that doesn’t seem to be able to stop anyone, Northern Illinois is going to need their offense to really play well for them to have a shot against Toledo. Last year the Huskies rushed for 422 yards and seven touchdowns. Starting quarterback Chandler Harnish not only threw for 162 yards and a touchdown, but also ran for 149 yards and a score.
However, they will be without running back Chad Spann this time around, who carried it 20 times for 70 yards and three touchdowns. Spann had 1,388 yards and 22 touchdowns for the Huskies last season. Jasmin Hopkins and Harnish have had no trouble picking up the slack. The two have combined for 1,326 yards and 19 touchdowns. Harnish has also been extremely effective throwing the ball. He has 1,697 yards with 12 touchdowns to just four interceptions.
Toledo Rockets:
Toledo has really looked impressive over their current four game winning streak. They went on the road and crushed Temple 36-13 and downed Eastern Michigan 54-16 at home. They followed those two wins up with a 28-21 win at Bowling Green and 49-28 win over Miami (OH). Their three non-conference losses all came against quality opponents. They lost 15-40 to Boise State, but nearly won at Ohio State (22-27) and lost in overtime at Syracuse (30-33).
The Rockets bring in a high-powered offense that ranks 30th in the nation, averaging just over 438 yards a game. Head coach Tim Beckman has stuck with his two quarterback rotation, as Austin Dantin and Terrance Owens have both played extremely well. Dantin has 1,010 yards with 10 touchdowns to just one interception and Owens has thrown for 949 yards with six touchdowns to just two picks.
Toledo also features a pretty strong rushing attack behind the trio of Morgan Williams, David Fluellen, and Adonis Thomas. Williams has been the best of the bunch with 489 yards and nine touchdowns, but Fluellen and Thomas each have over 300 yards and three scores on the year.
The playmakers on the outside are Eric Page and Bernard Reedy. Paige has a team-high 66 receptions for 665 yards and four touchdowns, while Reedy has hauled in 23 passes for 414 yards and three scores.
Putting up points against the Huskies defense doesn’t figure to be a problem, what this game is going to come down to is how well the Rockets play defensively. They come in ranked 28th against the run (116.6 ypg), but last year’s performance is more than enough reason to believe they will struggle to stop the Huskies. If you take out their game against Northern Illinois last year, they held their 11 other opponents to an average of 109 yards a game.
Betting Trends:
Northern Illinois is 11-4-1 ATS in their last 16 games after allowing more than 450 total yards in their previous game.
Toledo is 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games as a home favorite.
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