Scouting: NIU @ Miami
Northern Illinois (10-2) vs. Miami Ohio (8-4)
When: 6 p.m. Friday at Ford Field
TV: ESPN2; Radio: WSCR 670-AM
Series: Tied at 7. NIU has won the last five.
Coaches: Jerry Kill (23-15, third year at NIU; 127-72 in 17th year overall); Michael Haywood (9-15, second year at Miami)
NIU players to watch: Led by league MVP Chad Spann (1,239 yards, 20 TDs), Northern Illinois was all over the Mid-American Conference's all-league teams. QB Chandler Harnish (1,949 passing yards, 761 rushing yards, 22 total TDs), C Scott Wedige, LT Trevor Olson, DE Sean Progar and CB Chris Smith all joined Spann on the first team. Spann and Smith are the only seniors of the bunch. A total of 13 Huskies appeared on the three all-MAC teams.
Miami players to watch: QB Zac Dysert earned second-team all-MAC honors, but missed last two games with a lacerated spleen. That leaves redshirt freshman Austin Boucher in charge. The lefty hit 37 of 60 passes for 368 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT the last two weeks, and showed mobility with 45 rushing yards. Senior RB Thomas Merriweather has come on strong with 182 yards against Temple and 141 yards versus Akron. Soph LT Matt Kennedy (Prospect HS) has 19 career starts.
The skinny: In search of the school's first MAC championship since 1983, the Huskies arrive in Detroit as the No. 25 team in the BCS rankings. On paper, NIU's second trip to the MAC title game looks like a no-brainer. The Huskies lead the league in scoring offense (39.3 ppg) and scoring defense (18.5 ppg) while the RedHawks rank 10th in offense (20.1 ppg) and fifth in defense (23.6 ppg). However, Miami made a dramatic turn down the stretch. The RedHawks gave up just 47 points in winning their last four games, which made them nothing like the team that surrendered 51 points at Missouri and 45 at Cincinnati in the season's first half.
Common opponents: NIU and Miami both swept Akron, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan and Temple. The Huskies won those 5 games by an average of 35.0 while the RedHawks won by an average of 10.2 points.
Bowl implications: The Little Caesars Pizza Bowl has first call on MAC schools, but that doesn't necessarily mean the winner of this game will return to Ford Field on Dec. 26. NIU is trying to find the best matchup possible, so the Huskies might go to the Humanitarian Bowl (Dec. 18 in Boise, Idaho) or the GoDaddy.com Bowl (Jan. 6 in Mobile, Ala.) if they present a bigger mountain to climb.
He said it: Jerry Kill on playing four-plus hours away from DeKalb for the third time in 14 days and the eighth time this season: “I feel like Willie Nelson: On the road again. I don't care, we're playing for the championship and if they said we're going to play in the North Pole, we'll go play in the North Pole. If we're going to play in an indoor facility, that's great. I'm looking forward to going to Detroit. That was the ultimate goal. This is the end of the race. Are we going to be able to finish it?”