After a long three game road trip and a bye week, the Northern Illinois Huskies get back to action on Brigham Field at Huskie Stadium versus the Kent State Golden Flashes this Saturday at 4pm. The later start time should have the Huskies' fans feeling very fired up for their teams return. A good four hours of pre-game preparations in "The Yard", NIU's new fan fun zone complete with beer garden, music, and jumbo-tron, should see to that.
Kent State is coming in after a tough, winless, start to their season at 0-4. Is this just the thing the Huskies need to get back on track after getting a bit embarrassed at the hands of the SEC's Arkansas Razorbacks 14-52? Or can Kent State get it's season turned around with an upset of the favorited Huskies?
Just two years ago these two teams played in what was one of the biggest MAC games, let alone MAC championships, ever. The winner would likely sneak into a BCS bowl game, bringing notoriety and respect to their program and the conference like no team has ever done before. NIU won a close game, gaining a fair amount of national recognition and respect from it. Kent State has fallen back into oblivion.
With only four winning seasons since 1977, the Golden Flashes have never been able to sustain their success on the rare occasion they've achieved it. They have a 4-12 regular season record since losing that 2012 championship contest. Head coach Paul Haynes could use a season saving victory against one of the top MAC teams.
How can Kent State come away with the big upset? Crunching the numbers says it's going to be tough. Kent State is last in the MAC in offense, while the Huskies defense is first in yards allowed. NIU is pretty stout against the run, yielding only 114 yards a game. They're probably even a bit better than that since they had to play Arkansas, who's the number five rushing team in the nation. The Golden Flashes will have to throw to win. The question is can redshirt sophomore quarterback Colin Reardon get it done.
Reardon has been been pretty average so far. He will have to be far better than that on Saturday for the Golden Flashes to have a chance. He'll need to bring up his completion percentage from the 54% he's posted thus far. Especially since he will probably hit 40+ attempts in this game. He will also need a big play from one of his wide outs, possibly James Brooks. NIU's secondary has been beaten deep on several occasions this year. Brooks is a guy who can get passed them.
Kent State really doesn't rush the ball very well. In fact they're dead last in the MAC. And by a long shot. So I don't expect anything more than a few running plays to keep the defense honest. What they may want to do is get the ball to running back Nick Holley on some screens and dump offs. Easy throws for Reardon and it gets the running back away from the Huskies strong run defense up the middle. Holley has shown he can catch the ball and this may be his best chance to get some space to run.
For the Huskies, Drew Hare looks to put up points this week. A lot of points. Hare wasn't that bad against Arkansas. Posting a 136 QB rating. It was more about not making the plays when they were needed. That was the entire team, not just Hare. They moved the ball at times, but couldn't come away with points.
Expect a balanced attack from the formidable Huskies ground game making Hare's job a little easier. With TommyLee Lewis out for there year, NIU will want to get Ezra Saffold and Aregeros Turner plenty of reps and game action.
Kent State defense isn't quite as bad as the stats say. So NIU will need to execute. Something the Huskies have not done for an entire game all season outside of the Presbyterian game. This is a game NIU wants to come away from healthy and feeling good about their play.
The Huskies hope to put it all together in this game and really show they're ready for conference play when it gets tougher down the road. Kent State wants to show that they're better than their record and aren't the MAC's doormat.
The Huskies may have found a place to wipe their feet in this one.