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Northern Illinois Huskies (2-5) vs. Ohio Bobcats (4-3)
The Northern Illinois Huskies head to Peden Stadium in Athens, Ohio, to take on the Ohio Bobcats in the Mid-American Conference showdown, as the 2022 college football season goes on Saturday, October 22, with Week 8 matchups.
NIU meets Ohio for the first time since 2019 when the Huskies outlasted the Bobcats 39-36 as 4.5-point road underdogs. The Huskies are small 2.5-point road favorites this time around, while the totals are listed at 65.0 points.
The Northern Illinois Huskies (2-5; 3-4 ATS; 1-2 conf.) routed the Eastern Michigan Eagles 39-10 in Week 7, putting an end to their five-game losing streak. NIU outgained EMU 410-226 in total yards and won the turnover battle 2-0 while holding the ball in possession for 39:13. The Huskies rolled over the Eagles and finished the game with a thumping 287 rushing yards on 49 attempts.
“They never lost the faith, they kept believing in one another and we're fighting to be a team,” NIU head coach Thomas Hammock said after his team stopped an ugly slide. “I thought they did a great job today in all three phases. These guys do nothing but work hard every single week and it was great to see that show up today. Guys were communicating, guys were executing, they were ab le to finish plays today and part of that was due to the coverage down the field. Our defensive line really played well today. We played team defense.”
The defense pinned their ears back and PLAYED LIGHTS OUT!! ??????@J2Ester @DonVito_95 @JordanW36423972 #TheClimb ????| #TheHardWay pic.twitter.com/yvq1Vimhj1
— NIU Football (@NIU_Football) October 17, 2022
Sophomore RB Harrison Waylee tortured Eastern Michigan for 158 yards and a TD on 16 carries. Antario Brown, another sophomore running back, had 17 totes for 86 yards and a couple of scores, while senior signal-caller Rocky Lombardi completed 11 of his 15 passing attempts for 115 yards. Now, Northern Illinois is tallying 32.7 points per game (tied-51st in the country) on 207.7 passing yards (tied-102nd) and 193.0 rushing yards (tied-32nd).
The Huskies are surrendering 34.3 points per contest (117th) on 278.0 passing yards (116th) and 116.1 rushing yards (29th). They are allowing just 3.5 yards per carry, but NIU’s passing defense has been pretty much awful through the previous seven weeks.