The Northern Illinois Huskies (1-3) and Eastern Michigan Eagles (2-2) will do battle in Ypsilanti, Michigan on Saturday, September 29th, 2018 for a pivotal Mid-American Conference battle. The two teams will face off at 6:00 PM ET and the contest will be aired on ESPN+ streaming. The last two meetings between both sides required overtime to declare a victor, Northern Illinois being the opportune end of both scenarios. Last year, the Huskies defeated the Eagles 30-27 in DeKalb fostering a cover for EMU takers who booked the Eagles as a 7.5-point pup. In the last ten meetings overall between both NIU and EMU, the Huskies have won all ten contests in question.
Northern Illinois Huskies at Eastern Michigan Eagles Overview
Northern Illinois Huskies
The Huskies come in with a lot of hype as a contender for the MAC credentials. The Huskies are a perennial power within this conference and such emerged one of the favorites in the pre-season. In spite of this, NIU got off to a rough start losing three games to Power Five opponents in Florida State, Utah, and Iowa. In each of these three contests, the Huskies did not cover as they were an overvalued underdog that many had mistakenly placed as a potential upset threat to the aforementioned football teams.
Eastern Michigan Eagles
The Eagles come in at .500, but their body of work is quite impressive. The Eagles defeated the Purdue Boilermakers in West Lafayette, Indiana as a 15-point underdog, three weeks ago and just this week almost upset San Diego State on its own field as a double-digit pooch once again. Overtime was required in San Diego for Las Aztecas to escape. Outside of this, Eastern Michigan owns a win over Monmouth and came up just short against undefeated Buffalo losing by only a touchdown at UB Stadium.
Reasons To Avoid Northern Illinois
Nothing is compelling about the Huskies at all other than their namesake. The bottom line is that many takers cannot wrap their head around NIU being an underdog against an opponent it has a chartered record of beating down. In this scenario, the underdog looks too easy, and usually, that is a sign of bad things to come for those that ante up on the pooch. Northern Illinois’ sole win this year came against Central Michigan at home, a team that it was supposed to beat handily yet the Huskies nearly let the Chips back into the game despite leading by 18 at one point. This team cannot be trusted.
Reasons To Back Eastern Michigan
The Eagles continue to head in the right direction. In 2016, they broke historic ground when they played in their first bowl game in two decades. In 2017, EMU failed to gain post-season eligibility, and thus it seemed like a one-off. However, the Eagles lost three games in overtime in 2017 and lost another three games by a total of 10 points. This team could have easily been in the MAC Championship Game or more if they had a bit of luck.
Get more details: Northern Illinois at Eastern Michigan NCAAF Match-Up
