By Woodrow Carroll
Northern Illinois’ 42-28 victory at Western Michigan last week certainly won’t be remembered to the extent of their victory over Notre Dame, earlier in the season. Yet, the victory in Kalamazoo was ever so vital to a football program that has floundered since that meeting with the Irish.
After defeating the Western Michigan Broncos, Northern Illinois’s record improved to 5-4. With a home game against Akron, Wednesday, Oct. 13, a victory would make the Huskies bowl eligible. A loss to Western Michigan would drop Northern Illinois below .500 and would make their bowl eligibility quest a bit iffy.
While a bowl game would be likely if there is a victory over Akron, the challenge now for Northern Illinois is to make the MAC Championship Game in Detroit Saturday, Dec.7. For that to come to fruition, a number of things in Northern Illinois’ favor need to come about.
The MAC championship game no longer pits the winners of the East and West Divisions. Ford Field will now play host to the two top teams in the MAC standings at the conclusion of the regular season. Northern Illinois is only 2-3 in the MAC and will need plenty of help in reaching the MAC Championship. However, Northern Illinois is still viable in the race. Beating Western Michigan helped! And, second place in the standings is all that it takes to play in the championship game.
The University of Illinois (6-3 and 3-3) will get back into action Saturday, Oct. 16 at 1:30 p.m. when they play host to Michigan State in its final home game of the season. The Fighting Illini were off last weekend, recovering from back-to-back losses to Oregon and Minnesota. Losses that put a damper on what had been a very positive run by Illinois up to that point.
Games at Rutgers and Northwestern following the Michigan State game will bring down the curtain on Illinois’ regular season. Being a Big Ten school and already bowl eligible, the Illini are assured of seeing postseason action. The question at this point is who Illinois will face and in what bowl game. And, what Illinois does in its final three games will play a part in the quality of the bowl the Illini will find themselves in.
Northwestern (4-5 and 2-4) will need to step it up if the they are to make it to a bowl game!
The Northwestern Wildcats will play host to Ohio State Saturday Oct. 16 at 11 a.m. at Wrigley Field. Interesting fact: Wrigley Field was the home turf for the Chicago Bears from 1921 to 1970, when the team was the Chicago Staleys and the field was called Cubs Park.
Back to the Northwestern schedule, the Wildcats have their work cut out for them if the team hopes to play a 13th game (bowl game) this season. A contest at Michigan followed by a home game with Illinois will wrap up the Wildcats’ schedule. While a victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes might be asking a bit much, both Michigan and Illinois have proven vulnerable this season.
While political pundits are never wrong, at least in their minds, predictions from sports writers often fail to ring true! After Indiana’s football team opened the season with a 6-0 record, this writer said reality was about to kick in and the Hoosiers were in for a setback. Wrong! Indiana is 10-0 and in the Top 10 of all the polls.
The Indiana Hoosiers, are off this week before playing at Ohio State Saturday, Nov. 23. And please, no post facto predictions telling us how important the Indiana at Ohio State meeting was going to be well in advance!
Sometimes handling a big victory is more difficult than a tough loss. After a shocking 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois back in September, Notre Dame has won seven straight games and moved back into the NCAA Playoff picture. And Northern Illinois, is 3-4 and in a scramble to salvage a semblance of what once had the makings of a glorious season.