The unofficial online home for fans of the Kent State University Golden Flashes. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

It is being reported by several sources that Nortern Illinois will be in the Orange Bowl

Well that stings a little.

Good for them. They earned it. I hope they win. Who will be coaching them?

Wish it could've been us, but I'm glad because this could open up some more options for us to go to a better bowl.

CBS sports has Kent State in the Potato Bowl vs. Utah State

I'm glad. That team and this conference deserves a BCS bowl this season. Hopefully they represent the MAC well!

(12-02-2012 06:07 PM)Kent 76 Wrote:  CBS sports has Kent State in the Potato Bowl vs. Utah State

That's a prediction. I read it too and thought it was a fact at first. Hopefully it is a wrong one.

NIU's Offensive Line coach is being rumored as the new head coach of NIU, so I would imagine he will be the head coach for their bowl game.

Nice to see the MAC bust the BCS, but it hurts a little knowing that could have been us. Hopefully this helps us so GoDaddy takes us instead of Bosie.

I think the Big Daddy bowl is better to paly than Potatoe one/

Go daddy has location but Utah has the better team. Utah State is very good and would be an even bigger challenge than the belt team in the go daddy though those teams have improved this year as well.

For selfish reasons I'm hoping Independence. The reason is so I can go!

NIU students get free tickets
Updated: December 3, 2012, 3:34 PM ET
By Scott Powers | ESPNChicago.com

Northern Illinois, which became the first MAC school to earn a BCS bowl berth, has announced it will offer free Orange Bowl tickets to students who can get to Miami for the Jan. 1 game against Florida State.

Although offering one free ticket per student likely will lead to Northern Illinois losing money on its BCS berth, the school is willing to absorb that cost. The Huskies have been provided 17,500 tickets.

"We consider athletics to be an important part of the university for (the students)," Northern Illinois media relations associate athletic director Donna Turner said Monday. "If it gives them a good feeling about themselves, Northern Illinois and our athletic programs, that's an investment that's well worth it. When you talk about the big picture, that's more important than whatever the cost is in the short term."

It's uncertain how rare this gesture is, but representatives of two schools that are no strangers to bowls said they were unaware of this being a common practice.

"It'd be a great way to attract students, no question," Orange Bowl communications and community outreach vice president Larry Wahl said. "If you're incurring the cost of the tickets to where the cost is just transportation and housing and meals, that certainly would help."

Turner said they opened the ticket office early Monday and approximately 500 students reserved tickets.

Offering free tickets is nothing to new to Northern Illinois. Turner said the university has provided free tickets to bowl games and MAC championship games since at least its berth into the 2008 Independence Bowl.

"It's fairly standard for us to offer free tickets to students," Turner said. "This is something that is extremely important to us. When the (bowl) came about, it didn't take us long to make tickets free as well."

Of course, there is still the cost of transportation and lodging.

"They still have to get there," Turner said. "It's the not the simplest thing. We hope to have a great contingent."