The NIU Huskies and Vanderbilt Commodores clash Saturday in week 3 college football action from Huskie Stadium.
The Vanderbilt Commodores will hope to rebound after a 45-25 loss to Wake Forest last time out. Mike Wright has thrown for 426 yards, 6 touchdowns and an interception on 60% passing while AJ Swann’s thrown for 197 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Re’Mahn Davis and Wright have combined for 533 rushing yards this season while Jayden McGowan has a team-high 201 receiving yards on 12 catches while Will Sheppard’s got a team-high 13 catches for 142 receiving yards this season. On defense, Anfernee Orji has a team-high 27 total tackles while Maxwell Worship has 20 total tackles with a team-high 15 solo tackles. As a team, Vanderbilt’s defense has combined for 6 sacks this season.
The NIU Huskies will look to rebound from a 38-35 loss to Tulsa last time out. Rocky Lombardi’s thrown for 451 yards, 4 touchdowns and an interception on 60.4% passing while Antario Brown and Harrison Waylee have combined for 243 rushing yards this season. Cole Tucker leads the Huskies with 11 catches for 190 yards while Shemar Thornton has 112 receiving yards and Kacper Rutkiewicz has a pair of touchdowns. On defense, Daveren Rayner has a team-high 25 total tackles while Eric Rogers has a pair of interceptions and NIU’s defense as a whole has 6 sacks this season.
Vanderbilt is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games following a loss and 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games in September while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 games overall. NIU is 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games against a team with a winning record and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games against the SEC while the over is 5-1 in their last 6 games overall.
I am initially leaning towards Vanderbilt, maybe because of power conference and name brand bias, but I think the better play is the over here. These are two teams that have been involved in a bunch of high-scoring games already this season, combining to go 5-0 to the over up to this point and I could honestly see another here. I’m not expecting much, if any defense to be played here and I’m expecting a game that gets into the 70s let alone the 60s. Give me the over.