Bowl game adventures shift into gear for MAC, Big Ten

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By Woodrow Carroll

For the third time this season the Northern Illinois Huskies surpassed 40 points only to lose the game. With a 47-41 defeat at the hands of Coastal Carolina in the Cure Bowl in Orlando, Fla. Friday, Dec. 17, Northern Illinois wrote finish to this season with a record of 9-5.

Little was expected of the Huskies this year who were 0-6 in a pandemic-shortened campaign last season.. Instead, Northern Illinois won the Mid-American Conference (MAC) championship.

Northern, Illinois, which lost to Wyoming, 50-43, and Kent State, 52-47, during the regular season, ended on the game with the ball on the Coastal Carolina four-yard line when time ran out on this season.

Head coach Thomas Hammock’s charges made every game an adventure this season. The game with the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers from the Myrtle Beach/Conway, S. C. area was no exception. Each team put many points on the board in each of the four quarters. The two teams collected 1,030 yards combined. Both offenses dominated the game

Coastal Carolina has its own bowl in a sense. The Myrtle Beach Bowl is played at Brooks Stadium in Conway..

One year ago, with COVID-19 lurking and only a smattering of bowl games being played, the MAC was limited to two bowl entrants, Ball State and Buffalo, the two division champions, Each won their respective bowl game.

With a 41-23 victory over Kent State in the MAC championship game this season, Northern Illinois improved its record to 9-4. Bowl game success, however, continues to elude the Huskies.

The loss to Coastal Carolina was the seventh consecutive defeat for Northern Illinois in bowl games. The Northern Illinois record in bowl games dropped to 4-10.

Although only two MAC sides played in bowl games last season, a total of eight teams from the MAC received invitations this year. So far, the early results have not been good for the MAC/

Two MAC members, Toledo and Northern Illinois, kicked off this season’s bowl run. Both lost!

Toledo dropped a 31-24 decision to Middle Tennessee State in the Bahamas Bowl followed shortly by the Northern setback. The picture got no better when Eastern Michigan was trounced, 56-20, by Liberty Saturday, Dec. 18 in the Lending Tree Bowl. Three games into the bowl season the MAC stood 0-3 with five games to go.

The Mid-American Conference is basically the Big Ten’s little brother playing in the same back yard.

Food for thought! Seven of the eight MAC teams playing in bowl games this year will have played their bowl games prior to the first Big Ten bowl game.

Minnesota will be the first Big Ten squad to go bowling when the Gophers, 8-4, will square off against West Virginia, 6-6, in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl, Tuesday, Dec. 28. The only MAC team waiting the call to action at that point, will be Central Michigan which will play Boise State in the Arizona Bowl, Friday, Dec. 31.

The Big Ten will have a grand total of nine schools in postseason play this season, led by Michigan’s 12-1, quest to bring down Georgia, 12-1, in the Orange Bowl, Friday, Dec. 31, and in college football playoff semifinal game.

Monday, Jan. 10, 2022 the national championship game will be played at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Victory by the Wolverines over Georgia would send Michigan back to Indy the site of Michigan’s 42-3 Saturday, Dec. 4 victory over Iowa for the Big Ten championship.

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