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A Mid-American battle is on tap between the Northern Illinois Huskies and the Kent State Golden Flashes at noon ET next Saturday at Ford Field. If the contest is anything like Kent State's 52-47 victory from their previous meeting in November, the scorekeeper will be kept real busy.
It looks like NIU got the smaller half of the wishbone at Thanksgiving dinner. They suffered a grim 42-21 defeat to the Western Michigan Broncos on Tuesday. The Huskies were in a tough position by the half, with the score already sitting at 28-7. Despite the loss, they had strong showings from RB Antario Brown, who punched in two rushing touchdowns, and RB Clint Ratkovich, who punched in one rushing touchdown. That touchdown -- a 96-yard rush in the second quarter -- was one of the highlights of the game.
Meanwhile, it was all tied up 41-41 between the Golden Flashes and the Miami (OH) RedHawks going into overtime on Saturday, but Kent State pulled a 48-47 win out of their hat in the final minutes. Yes, you read that final score correctly. And yes, they were playing football. Kent State's RB Xavier Williams was on fire, rushing for two TDs and 168 yards on 13 carries. One of the most memorable plays of the matchup was Williams' 79-yard touchdown rush in the third quarter. Williams' sharp performance set his single-game rushing touchdown high for the season.
NIU is now 8-4 while the Golden Flashes sit at 7-5. Two defensive stats to keep an eye on: The Huskies are stumbling into the matchup with the 236th most rushing touchdowns allowed in the nation, having given up 30 on the season. Kent State is completely their equal: they are 236th worst in the nation in rushing touchdowns allowed, with 30 on the season. It's possible one of these Achilles' heels will wind up tripping the losing team up.
