The college football week starts up early for the top 25 with the Northern Illinois Huskies in action against the Ball State Cardinals and the matchup will be for a game on ESPN2 starting up at 8:00 pm and the game will be streaming on WatchESPN from Huskie Stadium on Wednesday night for the Mid American Conference matchup.
The game will give the chance for NIU to show off a great offense led by Jordan Lynch and the team is averaging well over 40 points per game and they are undefeated heading into the matchup at 9-0, while Ball State is 9-1 and 6-0 within the MAC conference. Jordan Lynch has been having another solid season with 1871 yards and 19 touchdowns and he also is leading the team in rushing with 1150 yards and 12 touchdowns and that makes him one of the most productive players at his position in the country. Lynch was a sleeper option for the Heisman last season after putting up some mind boggling numbers and now he will get to show that off as the season moves to a close with three games left on the schedule. This is a huge game in the west division, as Ball State is 6-0 and NIU is 5-0 and this matchup could have national implications, as the Huskies made it into the BCS last season against Florida State.
Check here for the Watch ESPN coverage for Northern Illinois.
The Huskies are coming into the game after nine straight wins and Ball State comes in hot as well and the matchup could be very high scoring. The team is averaging over 500 yards total per game this season and they are ranked eighth in the nation in scoring on offense with 44 points per contest and the defense has been solid but not great with 25 points allowed per game and they are coming off of a win on the road against UMass after scoring over 60 points and the rest of the season has games against Ball State, Toledo and Western Michigan and this game on Wednesday could help decide out the MAC conference and the west division, as these two are at the top.
Ball State comes in averaging nearly 40 points per game and the defense has been a bit better with 23 points allowed per game and now the team comes into the matchup playing three road games in four weeks, including the game against NIU and the team has just one matchup left after this against Miami of Ohio, making this a must win matchup for the team. The Cardinals are ranked 16th in the nation in passing yards per game and they are averaging over 150 rushing yards per contest and the team comes in with a seven game winning streak and the game on Wednesday night will be on ESPN2 starting up at 8 pm and will be a tough divisional matchup in the west for Northern Illinois at home with the Ball State Cardinals.