Northern Illinois Huskies (1-0) vs. Maryland Terrapins (1-0)
September 5, 2025 7:30 pm EDT
The Line: Maryland Terrapins -18.5; Over/Under: 47.5
(Get latest betting odds)
Maryland and Northern Illinois meet Friday in college football action from Byrd Stadium. Here’s a Maryland vs Northern Illinois prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Maryland Terrapins vs Northern Illinois Huskies pick.
Northern Illinois Was Tested
If the first game was any indication, it’s going to be a very long season for Northern Illinois. The Huskies faced off against Holy Cross in the first game, and they managed only 19 points. Even though that was enough to win, there has to be some real concern about how this team is going to perform the rest of the season.
Northern Illinois scored 13 points in the 4th quarter, but it’s when the defense had their biggest struggles also giving up 14 points. The stats weren’t awful for Northern Illinois, but they just weren’t explosive enough. Josh Holst completed 12 of his 18 passes for 101 yards, zero touchdowns, and one interception. The top offensive player was Chavnon Wright who finished with 11 rushes for 77 yards, zero touchdowns, and one interception. DeAree Rogers also finished with seven catches for 73 yards.
Maryland Has Itself a Quarterback?
It appears that Maryland has found itself a quarterback, and that is Malik Washington. In the first game, Maryland faced off against the FAU Owls, and they were able to secure the 39-7 victory. Washington completed 27 of his 43 passes for 258 yards, three touchdowns, and zero interceptions. HIs skills were impressive, but most important was his ability to not turn the ball over. The top rusher was DeJuan Williams, who finished with 10 carries for 54 yards. As a team, they finished with 380 yards, and 112 of those came on the ground.
Against bad teams, you want to nitpick, and there were some things that Maryland could really improve upon. Maryland went only 5-17 on third down. If that happens again here, Maryland probably still wins, but that could spell some bad news for this team as they go on the rest of the season. It’s obviously about winning, but this team also needs to be using this as another tune up.
Maryland vs Northern Illinois Prediction
If you are a Northern Illinois fan, this is probably a game that you don’t want to tune into, because it’s going to get out of hand early. Maryland has the real deal in Malik Washington, and he’s going to have another huge game here. This Northern Illinois offense just isn’t very talented, and they aren’t going to be finding a whole lot of success moving the ball here. Northern Illinois is going to struggle to reach the 10-point mark here, and this game is going to be over by halftime. Maryland wins this game by at least 30 points. Back Maryland to win this game and cover the spread.
