This is an excellent match up for Northern Illinois even on the road. Teams that can run the ball typically can compete on the road and the fact that Ball State is allowing 5.6 yards per carry ranking 116th looks good for the Huskies. Ball State has allowed 5.57 ypc in losses and 4.00 in wins. Ball State was getting a lot of credit for their wins lately, but their win over Akron last week suddenly doesn't look very good. Northern Illinois on the other hand just got done playing the two worst teams in the MAC and arguably the country in Eastern Mich and Miami (OH). They have been looking towards this game for a while along with Toledo next week. Northern Illinois is running the ball 64% of the time ranking 23rd in yards per carry 5.3, but has been even better in conference play at 6.18. The two teams that Ball State has faced that can run the ball they lost to. That includes Western Mich who averaged 4.7 pc on the year and ran for 6.93.
Northern Illinois has also had much more of a challenging schedule when you look at the fact that they faced Northwestern and Arkansas and only one other FCS school while Ball State faced Iowa and 2 FCS schools in non-conference. Northern Illinois should be up for this game and the value is there considering they have lost their last 5 ATS. This is a midweek game with national exposure on ESPN!
