Northern Illinois vs Kent State Picks and Odds

Northern Illinois vs Kent State Betting Preview

WagerTalk college football handicapper Tony Finn offers his Northern Illinois vs Kent State betting preview for the MAC Championship on Saturday, December 4 at Ford Field in Detroit. At the time of posting, the Golden Flashes have risen to a 3.5-point favorite over the Huskies, with the total sitting at 74 points.

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Northern Illinois vs Kent State Predictions

Kent State Golden Flashes -3.5 vs Northern Illinois Huskies
Total: 74 Points
Kent State has covered the spread in each of their last four games as a favorite.
The over has cashed in five of Northern Illinois’ last six games.

The MAC conference had a significant degree of parity in 2021, and evidence of this comes in the form of the championship game is set for Saturday afternoon when the Kent State Golden Flashes (7-5, 6-2) face-off against the Northern Illinois Huskies (8-4, 6-2). Kent State won the MAC in 1972 and has been to just one MAC Championship game, a loss to Northern Illinois since, in the Year 2012.

Conversely, the Huskies have taken part in eight of the league’s championship games. NIU is a level 4-4 in the eight MACtion title events last winning in 2018. Kent State averages just north of 33 points per game and nearly 500 yards of offense per contest. Defensively the Flashes allow more per game than they score, surrendering 35 points and 475 yards on gameday.

Northern Illinois isn’t as dynamic as Kent but is better suited for December football when exposed to Mother Nature’s conditions. The Huskies score nearly 31 points a game, with 230 of their 426 yards of offense coming via the ground and pound attack. NIU can throw the ball and average 195 yards per event through the air. But, like the Golden Flashes, the Huskies on average surrender more points than they score, allowing 33.5 points per game.

Kent State comes into the league title tilt in good form. The Flashes defeated Miami last week 48-47 in overtime. Northern Illinois, however, lost to Western Michigan 42-21 but had a little incentive in the final regular-season contest.

Kent State vs. Northern Illinois All-time Series History: Kent State won earlier this season, but NIU still leads 21-8. The last time these two MAC rivals met, Kent State came out on top with a 52-47 victory on Nov. 3, 2021.

Kent State is bowl eligible for the second time in three seasons under Lewis and won the 2019 Tropical Smoothie Frisco Bowl against Nevada, 51-41.

“We’ve got to make sure we do a great job of refocusing and working our process this week at a championship level because this is the championship moment that we’ve been working so hard for,” Kent State head coach Sean Lewis spoke in the post-game presser after defeating Miami in a back and forth MACtion contest that saw both teams combine to score 95 points.

“We’ve been talking about the fight all year, and the fight was to earn the right to go to Detroit, to create this prizefight opportunity,” Kent State head football coach Sean Lewis said. “It’s great that everyone in the community is saying these great things about us, and there’s all this positive pub and all these amazing things that are happening. But now, I think the biggest thing for us is to get refocused.”

MAC Championship forecast between Kent State and Northern Illinois finds the Flashes seemingly making all the right moves and doing so with a swagger. Kent is in terrific form with an offense that is clicking on all cylinders. In addition, the energy surrounding this group of players is contagious. So if you are looking for action in this MACtion Title fight, consider Kent State minus the slight handicap.

🏈 First team to 40 wins? Western Kentucky and UTSA lit up the scoreboard during their regular season meeting. Any reason to think we won’t see the same tomorrow? @CalSportsLV @robvenosports and @DrewMartinBets offer their C-USA Championship preview.https://t.co/O0xNsfbv2U

— WagerTalk (@WagerTalk) December 2, 2021

Northern Illinois vs Kent State Analysis from The GoldSheet

The problem for NIU is the iffy health of Lombardi, who was injured during that Kent State game and has been battling through an undisclosed problem since taking some vicious hits that week. Lombardi was held out of the regular-season finale against Western Michigan with frosh Ethan Hampton taking over for that game, and contributed just 13 yards of total offense, in the 42-21 loss to the Broncos. It’s unclear if Lombardi will be ready, and note the Huskies lost their lead RB Harrison Waylee with injury in Game 5 against Eastern Michigan. NIU backup Jay Ducker has done a good job, putting up 135 ypg rushing over the past 6 games, and 220-lb. RB Clint Ratkovich has rushed for 424 yds, but leads the team with 11 TDs on the ground for the year.

Must be wary of backing Huskies with Lombardi iffy but it’s possible that he was being held out against Western Michigan by HC Thomas Hammock as a precaution, as the Huskies had already sewed up their MAC West title with the OT win against Buffalo the week before. Would be more tempted to give NIU a whirl if sure Lombardi would be available, but the previous meeting suggests the “over” might be worth a look regardless.

Northern Illinois vs Kent State Video Preview

Northern Illinois and Kent State combined for 99 points in their regular season meeting. Should we expect a similar performance on the fast turf of Ford Field on Saturday? WagerTalk college football handicappers Dave Cokin, Adam Trigger and Bryan Leonard offer their Northern Illinois vs Kent State preview.

WagerTalk Live Odds Screen

WagerTalk’s live odds screen features up-to-the-minute lines from a variety of offshore and domestic sports books. Track the moneylines, point spreads, first half lines, betting percentages and so much more for all of the college football conference championship games, including this Northern Illinois vs Kent State showdown, from your desktop or phone.

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