By Woodrow Carroll
Northern Illinois University’s football team was thrown a lifeline by the Toledo Rockets last week.
The lifeline was in the form of a 31-28 road victory over the Rockets that kept Northern Illinois’ slim bowl hopes alive.
Home games with Eastern Michigan Tuesday, Nov. 19 and Western Michigan Tuesday, Nov. 26 should tell the tale. A 6-6 final record still might not get the Huskies to a postseason bowl game, however, given the jumbled nature of the MAC and the need for teams to fill bowl slots, anything is possible.
Northern Illinois, 4-6 and 3-3 Mid-American Conference (MAC), took a 28-7 lead against Toledo into the fourth quarter only to see Toledo tie the score at 28 last week.
Northern Illinois’ winning drive culminated with a 26-yard field goal by John Richardson with 45 seconds remaining in regulation. The clock ran out on a late push by Toledo, 6-4 and 3-3, and Northern Illinois’ bowl bid remained alive.
Northern Illinois’ victory over Toledo was the eighth time in the last 10 meetings between the two MAC West schools. The Rockets still have a 31-16 lifetime edge over the Huskies. Northern Illinois suffered at the hands of Toledo in the past.
There are 130 FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) teams, and, the MAC is the proud possessor of the only FBS team without a victory this season. The Akron Zips are 0-10 overall.
There are many teams nationally without a victory in conference play, but, only Akron, a team Northern Illinois defeated, 49-0, is still looking for its first victory.
For example, Northwestern, which defeated Massachusetts 45-6 in non-conference play Saturday, to moved to 2-8 overall, remains winless, 0-7, in the Big Ten Conference.
The ranks of the all winning teams took a hit Saturday with Baylor and Minnesota falling to defeat for the first time. Three familiar names: LSU, Ohio State, and Clemson, alone remain unscathed.
Minnesota, 9-1 and 6-1, which lost, 23-19 at Iowa Saturday, has to be careful if the Gophers led by head coach P.J. Fleck are to play in the Big Ten championship game December 7 in Indianapolis.
Wisconsin is one game in back of the Gophers and is poised to strike.
Minnesota will play at Northwestern Saturday in Evanston and Wisconsin will be host to Purdue. A victory by both the Wisconsin and Minnesota Saturday would set up a winner-take-all meeting November 30 at Minnesota. Even if Northwestern were to knock off Minnesota, a Gophers’ victory over Wisconsin the following week still would put Minnesota into the championship game against the East Division champion.
Illinois, 6-4 and 4-3, will play at Iowa, 7-3 and 4-3, Saturday at 11 a.m.. The Illini have a four-game winning streak and want to catch a Hawkeyes side that is coming off a big victory over Minnesota and could be less than fired up. Yes, Illinois is bowl-eligible! The Fighting Illini aim to tack on another victory or two. Illinois will play host to Northwestern to close out regular-season November 30.
All 14 teams in the Big Ten will play both Saturday and the following weekend. Every game has something on the line. Penn State at Ohio State at 11 a.m. is the primo matchup. The two teams are 19-1 combined with Penn State’s loss at Minnesota the only blemish. An Ohio State victory would secure the Big Ten East championship. Penn State, with a victory, would need only to dispatch Rutgers the following week to meet the Big Ten West champion in the championship game December 7.