Northern Illinois vs. Arkansas State
Jan. 8, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN
At Mobile, Ala.
Only Case Keenum and Robert Griffin III accounted for more yards of total offense this season than Northern Illinois senior quarterback Chandler Harnish, who passed for 2,942 yards and ran for 1,382 more.
Arkansas State signalcaller Ryan Aplin isn’t far behind that trio, having gained 3,840 total yards for the Sun Belt champs.
In what will likely be a shootout, we’ll side with the Huskies (10-3), who are more used to this sort of thing, making their fourth consecutive bowl appearance.
Not only have the Red Wolves (10-2) not gone bowling since 2005, they’ll be without Hugh Freeze, the head coach that led them to the school’s first 10-win season since 1986, who took over at Ole Miss on Dec. 5.
Opening point spread: Arkansas State by 1 1/2
The pick: Northern Illinois 38-35
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