Northern Illinois is essentially the mid-major embodiment of “Tailback University.” LeShon Johnson, Michael “the Burner” Turner, Garrett Wolfe are some of the recent names that come to mind. And Chad Spann, the current running back, has already broken the school record for rushing touchdowns in a season with 20. And he still has two games left to play.
Tonight the 10-2, (8-0 in the MAC) #24 NIU Huskies will battle the Miami of Ohio Red Hawks for the MAC Championship of college football. With both this and a bowl game remaining, it’s safe to say this will go down as the greatest Huskies team of all time. They are 17.5 point favorites and nationally ranked for the first time in 7 years. And they’ve done all this quietly.
Almost too quietly.
Win or lose, the Huskies will make a bowl for the third straight season. In September, they gave the Illini quite a game; losing on the scoreboard but beating them in overall yardage. Tonight they bring in the nation’s seventh ranked rushing attack and 11th ranked scoring offense. They’re in the polls for the first time since 2004, boast a nine game winning streak and have been averaging a whopping 65 points a game over the past three.
So yeah, they’re um pretty good or something like that. Even though absolutely no one is talking about them.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net , a Midwest webzine. He’s also a regular contributor to the Tribune’s Chicago Now network, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker Network, and Fox Sports.com
You can follow him on Twitter @thesportsbank
He also does a regular guest spot each week for Chicagoland Sports Radio.com