The Huskies head into familiar territory following their regular-season ending loss at Central Michigan. A victory over the Chippewas would've greatly enhanced NIU's bowl prospects.
The Huskies fell into an early hole against the Chippewas in dropping a 45-31 decision. The Huskies ended the regular season with two straight losses. At 7-5 and 5-3 in the Mid-American Conference West Division, the Huskies remain a viable candidate for a bowl bid.
Second-year NIU coach Jerry Kill pointed to last year's 6-6 record as a positive toward getting another bowl bid. The Huskies landed a spot in the 2008 Independence Bowl despite losing their final regular season game to Navy.
"Last year nobody thought we were going to get in at 6-6, so I can't control that one," Kill said. "We've got a BCS win and all those kinds of things, so I think we have a good resum."
Indeed, the Huskies can point to their road win over Purdue and close losses at Wisconsin and four-game winning streak late in the season. Another positive in NIU's bowl hopes is its recent luck, landing a bowl bid in 2004, 2006 and 2008.
Northern Illinois exceeded expectations in winning seven regular season games without a marquee player on defense. The loss of two-time MAC MVP, Larry English, to the NFL was expected to hurt the defense. However, they showed the same toughness and determination of last year's defense. The Huskies allowed just 21.2 points a game and finished with 29 sacks and eight interceptions.
The Huskies won two of their first three games, including a historic 28-21 triumph at Purdue. The Huskies lost their starting quarterback, Chandler Harnish, for three games, but managed to use a favorable schedule to build a 7-3 mark before losing their last two games.
The Huskies could easily have won nine games, falling 34-31 to Idaho and 20-19 at Toledo. The emergence of tailback Chad Spann and defensive end Jake Coffman was a key factor in NIU's strong regular season. Spann rushed for a team-leading 945 yards and scored a whopping 20 touchdowns. Coffman posted a team-high 12.5 tackles for a loss and seven and a half sacks.
Some of the teams jostling for a bowl spots with the Huskies figure to be Bowling Green (7-5), Middle Tennessee State (8-3), Idaho and Fresno State.
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