The Northern Illinois Huskies and the Toledo Rockets meet in week 5 college football MAC-tion from the Glass Bowl on Saturday afternoon.

NIU Loses Third Straight

The Northern Illinois Huskies come into this one on the heels of their third straight defeat, falling to Tulsa by a final score of 22-14. Rocky Lombardi has thrown for 566 yards, a touchdown and 4 interceptions on 51% passing while Ethan Hampton’s thrown for 147 yards, 2 touchdowns and 2 picks on 61.3% passing. Antario Brown leads NIU in rushing with 184 yards, while Gavin Williams has 101 rushing yards. Kacper Rutkiewicz has 14 grabs for 204 yards to lead NIU in receiving while Christion Carter has 118 receiving yards as well on the year. On defense, Raishein Thomas has a team-high 24 total tackles while George Gumbs leads NIU with 2.5 sacks. As a unit, Northern Illinois has combined for 10 sacks and 3 interceptions this season.

Northern Illinois Huskies Team Facts

The underdog has won nine of Northern Illinois’ last 10 games.
The underdog has covered the spread in nine of Northern Illinois’ last 10 games.
Northern Illinois has lost the first half in each of its last five games against conference opponents.
Each of Northern Illinois’ last six September games as an underdog have gone OVER the total points line.

Toledo Rallies To Win Third Straight

The Toledo Rockets started slow against Western Michigan, but rallied to take out the Broncos 49-31 last time out to improve to 3-1 on the year. Dequan Finn has thrown for 679 yards, 8 touchdowns and 4 interceptions on 63.3% passing while also rushing for 180 yards and 2 touchdowns. Peny Boone leads Toledo’s ground attack with 402 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns while Jerjuan Newton has a team-high 16 grabs for 209 yards and 6 touchdowns. Two more Rockets have 100+ receiving yards as well on the year. On defense, Dallas Gant leads the Rockets with 31 total tackles while Judge Culpepper has a team-high 4.5 sacks and Jeremiah Peters has 3.5 sacks as well this season. Toledo’s defense as a whole has combined for 15 sacks and 5 interceptions this season.

Toledo Rockets Team Facts

Toledo has won nine of its last 10 games at Glass Bowl.
The road team has covered the spread in each of the last four games between Northern Illinois and Toledo.
Toledo has lost the first half in three of its last four games against conference opponents.
Four of the last five games between Northern Illinois and Toledo at Glass Bowl have gone UNDER the total points line.

Matchup/League Facts

Toledo ranked T6th among FBS teams for Q4 win percentage last season (.714).
Toledo ranked 18th among FBS teams for Q2 points per game last season (11.3).
Northern Illinois was one of only 17 FBS teams with a better road winning percentage (.333) than home winning percentage (.167) last season (min. 8 games).
Northern Illinois ranked 39th among FBS teams for H2 points per game last season (15.1).

Chris’ Pick

I’m looking at the Rockets here. It’s a steep number, but Toledo managed to rally with Dequan Finn injured last time out. He’s questionable for this game, but even if he can’t go, backup Tucker Gleason was solid in relief and the Toledo ground attack was fantastic against WMU. Northern Illinois has some pieces, but I’m just concerned that Toledo ends up being too much for NIU here. I think Toledo wins this one by 2+ scores, with or without Finn. Lay it and play it with Toledo here.