Northern Illinois vs Iowa State 2010 College Football Picks:The Huskies of Northern Illinois travel over to Ames, Iowa on Thursday (8 pm ET, FSN) to do battle with the Iowa State Cyclones in an season opening MAC vs. Big 12 matchup. Sportsbook Bodog.com lists the Cyclones as 4 1/2-chalk favorites versus NIU with a posted ttoal of 52.
This game is sort of a mystery for college football gamblers as both teams are not exactly at the top of the traditional hype list. The MAC doesn't get the media coverage as the Big 12 for sure and Iowa State is not recognized as a Big 12 team makes many waves on the BCS scene.
What we do know is – the Huskies are no strangers to playing against or at superior opposition. While Iowa State certainly is no power, they are after all Big 12 which means BCS. Just that makes the Cyclones one of the haves and NIU – wishing it had. Because of that, Iowa State is listed the favorite and probably for no other reason.
The Huskies should be confident coming into tonight's game. They narrowly lost at Tennessee (13-9) in 2008, and came within eight points of upsetting Wisconsin at Camp Randall Stadiumlast year which finished No. 16 in the AP Poll. Then NIU upset Purdue 28-21 on the road. Of course they had moments when they lapsed, losing at home to Idaho for instance.
Optimism also abounds over at Ames where the Cyclones begin play in coach Paul Rhoads second year. One thing they brag about there is how their depth is so much better than in previous years. Rhoads brought a lot of hope to the ISU program, as last years seven win season shows.
Thursday's game should be fun to watch and picking a winner is not that easy. I will use this game to learn from and go with the home team since the line is rather close at -4 1/2.
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