Northern Illinois vs Iowa State 2010 College Football Odds, Picks & Predictions: The Iowa State Cyclones open their season tomorrow night with a dust up against the MAC's Northern Illinois Huskies. The game is scheduled to kickoff at 8:00pm ET at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa. 2010 College Football Odds, Picks & Predictions at SBGglobal.com have the Cyclones listed as a -4.5 against the spread home favorite; the game total is set at 51.
Iowa State, which finished 2-10 in 2008 (Gene Chizik's last year with the program), shocked almost everyone last season after
qualifying for a postseason berth with a 6-6 record. Paul Rhoads' Cyclones further surprised by upsetting Minnesota in the Insight Bowl to complete a five game swing from 2008 to 2009.
Rhoads' impressive inaugural campaign has many in Ames excited about the direction of the team; however, the Cyclones will have difficulty duplicating last year's seven wins given their brutal schedule. Iowa State's non-conference slate gets off to a tough start with tomorrow's game against the Huskies and only gets worse at they take on ninth ranked Iowa and Utah. The Cyclones also draw back-to-back road games against Oklahoma and Texas out of the Big 12 South.
That difficult road makes the upcoming meeting with Northern Illinois critical for Rhoads' squad, which desperately needs a good start to the season.
The Huskies come into this game with some expectations of their own as they eye the top spot in the MAC West. Northern Illinois finished second to conference champion Central Michigan in the division last year with a 5-3 conference record. The Chippewas lost Head Coach Butch Jones as well as quarterback Dan LeFevour (the MAC's all-time leading passer), though, giving the Huskies a great opportunity to jump to the top of the standings.
Head Coach Jerry Kill has 15 starters and 48 lettermen back, including his first string quarterback, leading rusher, top receiver, and leading tackler. Although the Huskies could face some steep competition from Western Michigan and possibly Ball State, Kill's troops are in prime position to garner the school's second ever MAC Championship Game appearance.
Key Matchup: Iowa State is primarily a running team and that is exactly what it will attempt to do against Northern Illinois tomorrow night. The Huskies featured a fairly solid rush defense a year ago, but they do have three new starters in the front seven. If Cyclones running back Alexander Robinson has success early, he will help open things up for quarterback Austen Arnuad, who is also a capable runner, and the passing attack. Advantage Iowa State.
2010 College Football Odds Betting Trend: Northern Illinois is 7-1 against the spread (2-6 straight up) playing as a road dog in weeks one through four.
SBGglobal.com Northern Illinois vs Iowa State 2010 College Football Odds, Picks & Predictions:
Northern Illinois Huskies +4.5 (-110), Over 51 (-110), +170 (Moneyline)
Iowa State Cyclones -4.5 (-110), Under 51 (-110), -200 (Moneyline)
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