By Woodrow Carroll
The Northern Illinois football team had not drained the excitement pool. The Huskies went a step further. Three one-point victories in MACtion and a 22-20 victory at Toledo were not enough, because in the Saturday, Nov. 20 game in Buffalo, Northern Illinois recovered a fumble just when it looked like the Bulls were about to score in overtime. One play later, Northern Illinois’ Clint Ratkovich ended the game with a 25-yard touchdown run to give Northern Illinois the victory, 33-27.
Thanks to Northern Illinois’ victory, the Huskies were assured of two additional games this season, the Mid-American Conference (MAC) championship game and a bowl game.
The Huskies will play in MAC championship game, at 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 4, at Ford Field in Detroit Although it was pretty obvious earlier that Northern Illinois on its way to a bowl game, a berth in the MAC championship game guarantees bowl games for the two teams meeting in Detroit.
Northern Illinois’ foe at Ford Field will be either Kent State or Miami Ohio. Those two teams will face each other at 11 a.m. Saturday at Kent State for the East Division championship. Host Kent State handed Northern Illinois, (8-3 overall and 6-1 the MAC) its lone conference defeat, 52-47.
• Although Northern Illinois football has been on a fun ride this season, the University of Illinois has been on a roller coaster ride, and, Saturday, Nov. 20 it was downhill for the Illini.
Host Iowa won, 33-23, after Illinois led, 10-0. It was doubly bad for Illinois head coach Bret Bielema, an Iowa graduate. He missed the game due to COVID-19 protocol. Illinois, 4-7 and 3-5 in the Big Ten, Conference lost its eighth straight to Iowa.
At. 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 27, the Illini will have an opportunity to end another losing streak when Northwestern, 3-8 and 1-7, will play in Champaign. Northwestern has a six-game winning streak in a series that was first played between the schools in 1892.
The game against Illinois will give the Wildcats an opportunity to close out this season on a positive note. Last season, Northwestern played two extra games by capturing the Big Ten West championship, and, after falling to Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game, bounced back to beat Auburn, 35-19, in the Citrus Bowl.
Despite a lackluster record, Illinois still harbors hopes of making it to a bowl game. The Illini have a fighting shot at a bowl game, thanks to what is called Academic Progress Rate (APR).
With a plethora of bowl games, there may not be enough teams with the requisite six victories for bowl invitations. As such, the fall back is a team with a 5-7 record and good student-athletes.
The aim of APR is to get the student athletes to graduate. Illinois has done a good job in getting the student-athlete on the road to graduation. If it boils down to a 5-7 team going to a bowl game, APR might do wonders for Illini football.