On Saturday we’ll see to quote Dr. Peter Venkman in “Ghostbusters,” “cats and dogs living together!” as the Northwestern Wildcats host the NIU Huskies. It’s the team who markets itself as “Chicago’s Big Ten Team” versus “Chicago’s #MACtion Team.” NU opened up as a 2.5 point favorite, and now the spread is up to 7.5 for some inexplicable reason.
Apparently, Las Vegas thinks very highly of Jordan Lynch and overrates the impact of his graduation. This match-up of programs striving to be Chicago’s second favorite team after Notre Dame is also the “Jim Phillips Bowl.”
Prior to arriving in Evanston in 2008, Phillips served as Northern Illinois’ athletic director for four years beginning in 2004.
If it seems a bit unconventional to brand a college football game under the banner of the current NU Athletic Director, then ask yourself :”what else do NU and NIU have in common?”
Besides letters in their acronyms?
The Wildcats and Huskies may only be 75.4 miles away from each other, but they reside in different conferences and pretty much never play each other.
TV/RADIO: 2:30 p.m. (CST) Big Ten Network
Radio: AM 560 WIND (that’s really good news for Northwestern, as their week one opener was on 87.7 The Game, a radio station that placed in 44th place, out of 47 in the Chicago radio ratings standings, so this is a step up).
NIU Preview:
The Huskies crushed an opponent I’ve never heard of, and you’ve probably never heard of them either, into many little pieces in week one. So it was essentially a preseason game. They still don’t have a quarterback yet, as all three potential successors to Jordan Lynch saw significant playing time. As for Mr. Lynch himself, he was cut by the Chicago Bears, and when it came time for the Monsters of the Midway to name their practice squad, Lynch did not make the roster.
We are still waiting to see if another NFL team will pick him up.
The Huskies’ 47 wins over the last four years ranks second among all FBS teams behind only Oregon and ahead of Boise State (45), LSU (45) and Oklahoma (44).
NIU head coach Rod Carey is 13-3 since taking over prior to the Huskies’ appearance in the 2013 Orange Bowl.
Northwestern Wildcats preview:
Northwestern has had a nasty habit over the past decade or so of losing pre-conference games that the bookies determined they were a lock to win. See: New Hampshire, Duke, Syracuse, Army. This is one of those games. Then again, NIU is 4-3 versus the Big Ten since 2009, so if the Huskies do triumph on Central Street, how much of an upset is it really?
Sadly, we’ve probably seen the best that Northwestern Wildcats QB Trevor Siemian has to offer. Not saying he will undergo a full-on Juice Williams style college football career arc in his final season, but Siemian was quite off in the season opener at Ryan Field.
He under-threw and over-threw his receivers. He was totally out of sync with the unit, and finished 23-42 for 229 yards, 1 TD and 2 INTS. Pat Fitzgerald may believe that “stats are for losers” but a stat line like that against Cal, one of the worst defenses in the nation last year is not a good sign.
Statistically, the Golden Bears, especially against the pass, were horrific last year. So what is up with Trevor Siemian? The departure of Kain Colter means we will no longer have to endure the “Quarterbacks 1a and 1b” bromide at Northwestern football media opps this year. Trevor Siemian is now simply “Quarterback 1a” at NU. Maybe he was just better suited to be part of a tandem; not to be “the man.”
Maybe Siemian was meant to thrive in a sharing the spotlight role, but when he’s the lone alpha dog….results may vary. With the exception of Christian Hackenberg at Penn State, who is a class above everybody else, Siemian is as good a pure passer as any in the Big Ten this year.
Or at least he was.
By the way, if you’re someone who cares about the Northwestern Wildcats at all, you really should read this:
Pat Fitzgerald credits (blames?) Cal bloggers, reporters for Northwestern defeat https://t.co/AfjBOgRztL via @GoldenBlogs
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) September 2, 2014
Of course, just bear (pun intended) in mind that
And Pat Fitzgerald makes jokes at these things. It’s what he does to lighten the mood.
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) September 2, 2014
Prediction: Northwestern Wildcats 31, NIU Huskies 20:
It would be quite Pat Fitzgerald like to rebound from a hugely embarrassing and very unexpected home loss to an inferior opponent in a big way in week two. Then again I picked NU to crush Cal last week, so what do I really know anyway?
Maybe Siemian will shut me up my throwing for 350+ yards and 4 TDs in this one? I predict he will.
Paul M. Banks owns and operates The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports, Yahoo! and the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. He’s been a guest on news talk shows all across the world and been featured in hundreds of media outlets including NFL Network, Fox Sports 1 and ESPN2. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)