Independence Bowl: Northern Illinois vs. Louisiana Tech Football Picks
Written December 22, 2008 by Jason Lowry
This Sunday the Northern Illinois Huskies are set to do battle with the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana, so its easy to see that this is pretty much a home game for the Bulldogs. The Huskies come into the game with a 6-6 record, as they really struggled down the stretch wining just 1 of their final 4 games. The Bulldogs on the other hand come in at 7-5 and finished MAC conference play at 5-3, good enough for 4th in the West division. For those of you looking to do a little NCAA football betting this weekend, the oddsmakers have this game a complete toss up, as neither team is favored at Bookmaker.com
The Huskies really don’t have any big wins under their belt this season, and they come into the post season really struggling to figure just where this team is headed. In their last game of the season they were shutout by Navy on their home field. The offense usually goes with the play of quarterback Chandler Harnish who should really benefit from the extra practices after the end of the regular season. Harnish wound up throwing for 1,342 yards with 7 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. Harnish doesn’t just get it done through the air, as he also had 478 yards on the ground with 4 more touchdowns. The running game is headed by the play of Me’co Brown and Chad Spann. Brown led the team with 508 yards on the ground, while Spann led the way with 8 rushing touchdowns. The Huskies will likely try to bring a pretty balanced attack to this one, and if Harnish continues to get better you have to like the Huskies chances in this one.
The Huskies defense was pretty solid this season, as they allowed just 18 points a game this season. They did give up some yards on both ground and the air, but their opponents 4.17 yards per carry in the ground game is something worth worrying about if you are a Huskies fan. This defense didn’t make a ton of big plays in the secondary as they had just 6 picks all season, but they did force 13 fumbles this season. The guys worth keeping an eye on are defensive end Larry English who will be playing on Sundays next year, and senior middle linebacker Tim McCarthy who is the leader of this unit on and off the field. Bet Northern Illinois Huskies Pick’em at Bookmaker.com
When you look at what Louisiana Tech brings to the table in this one, you get a team that is playing pretty good football even though they loss their final game against Nevada 31-35, as this team won 5 of their last 7 games. The offense comes in scoring 25 points a game, and the offense is ran through the play of running back Daniel Porter, who had 1,086 yards and 8 scores, but also got solid play from backup Patrick Jackson, who had 644 yards and 8 rushing scores of his one. Ross Jenkins is the guy under center making the big plays, and he wound up throwing for 1,011 yards with 7 scores and just 3 interceptions. This offense is going to be looking to run as much as possible in this one, and then look for Jenkins to make the big plays using play action.
The defense comes in giving up quite a few points this season, as they allowed nearly 25 points a game on this side of the ball, and a large reason for that was they let opposing teams throw all over them, as they gave up nearly 280 yards a game in the passing game. The defense did grab 15 interceptions this season, and added another 11 turnovers by way of fumbles, so you can see how this unit avoided getting 40 scored on them week in and week out. The big playmaker for this defense is safety Antonio Baker who had led the team with 111 tackles, and also added 3 interceptions. So if this defense can keep making the big plays you have to like their chances of bringing home a win this weekend. Bet Louisiana Tech Pick’em at Bookmaker.com
Get the latest NCAA football spreads and grab the best college football picks for all the big bowl games at Betfirms.
If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:
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- 2009 Louisiana Tech Football Predictions
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- Northern Illinois 2009 Football Predictions
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