Per Bleacher Report.....

Predicting Non-BCS Teams to Bust Polls

Quote:You haven't seen the last of the Northern Illinois Huskies.

NIU inspired/infuriated the nation with their qualification for the Orange Bowl. A clearly overmatched Huskies team was beaten 31-10 by the Florida State Seminoles.

Junior quarterback Jordan Lynch was the driving force to getting Northern Illinois its first BCS bowl bid. He could very well repeat in 2013.

The Huskies' toughest competition in the MAC, Kent State and Ohio, are going to be hit by either a coaching change (Kent State) or graduation (Ohio). Toledo will probably be NIU's toughest in-conference competition.

With games against Purdue and Iowa next year, the Huskies have the opportunity to pick up some important victories.

Dave Doeren might have moved to NC State, but NIU has recovered from coaching changes before. You should count on them to do it again.

Along with Northern Illinois, here are three other teams that could bust the BCS.

Got to take care of business against Iowa and Purdue, a loss to either team really hurts those chances. MAC schedule looks favorable though.

Also Showing up at #11 In Predicted Top #25 Offenses of 2013

Quote:Jordan Lynch had one fantastic season in the MAC, but Florida State showed us that Lynch still has some ways to go if he wants to make it with the big boys in the NFL. If he has any sense he'll stick around for his senior season and use that Orange Bowl disaster to spur him to greater things.

Regardless, 3,138 yards passing and 1,815 yards rushing is nothing to sneeze at even against MAC defenses. At the very least Lynch should tear up the MAC again.

#1 - got a warm fuzzy that we were mentioned before Boise ST...or anyone else

#2 - Ball St should be on this list, especially before Toledo. They defeated USF, IU and Toledo last year. BSU gets Toledo and Kent St at home this year along with playing OOC Illinois St, Army, North Texas and Virginia.

(01-10-2013 01:01 PM)HuskieFanatic Wrote:  Got to take care of business against Iowa and Purdue, a loss to either team really hurts those chances. MAC schedule looks favorable though.

A loss would end any BCS chance next year IMO. If we lose either game, we'll just have to be satisfied with winning a third-straight MAC title. We'll be getting their best effort to put us back in our place in their minds.

REVISED: I think it's like they always say, losses in the beginning of the year carry far LESS weight than losses in the second half of the year....would suppose we just have to beat out the Big East Champ and any other non-aq again...just curious if they will ride the high into next season and kick Iowa in the teeth, so anxious and excited for that far off date to arrive

(01-10-2013 01:39 PM)NIU8484 Wrote:  I think it's like they always say, losses in the beginning of the year carry far more weight than losses in the second half of the year....would suppose we just have to beat out the Big East Champ and any other non-aq again...just curious if they will ride the high into next season and kick Iowa in the teeth, so anxious and excited for that far off date to arrive

Who says it's better to lose late in the season?

(01-10-2013 01:04 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  #1 - got a warm fuzzy that we were mentioned before Boise ST...or anyone else

#2 - Ball St should be on this list, especially before Toledo. They defeated USF, IU and Toledo last year. BSU gets Toledo and Kent St at home this year along with playing OOC Illinois St, Army, North Texas and Virginia.

All about what have you done for me lately and Toledo has been the better team and has more notoriety than Balls.

(01-10-2013 02:01 PM)HuskieFan84 Wrote:  

(01-10-2013 01:39 PM)NIU8484 Wrote:  I think it's like they always say, losses in the beginning of the year carry far more weight than losses in the second half of the year....would suppose we just have to beat out the Big East Champ and any other non-aq again...just curious if they will ride the high into next season and kick Iowa in the teeth, so anxious and excited for that far off date to arrive

Who says it's better to lose late in the season?

lol I transposed my intended comments, see revision

In related news, when is Ball State going to update their damn mascot/Uniform....hot damn are they dated, that cardinal looks like a high school image from 1970

Question: If we only schedule OOC patsies and go 12-0 plus win the MACC, does that provide us with an easier road to BCS bowls?

(01-10-2013 02:16 PM)NIU8484 Wrote:  In related news, when is Ball State going to update their damn mascot/Uniform....hot damn are they dated, that cardinal looks like a high school image from 1970

They are waiting for EMU, CMU and Bowling Green to make the first move. All eyes on you EMU and your cartoon Eagle.

(01-10-2013 02:18 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  Question: If we only schedule OOC patsies and go 12-0 plus win the MACC, does that provide us with an easier road to BCS bowls?

Yes, because undefeated is always better than not. But, you run the risk of never being able to rise high enough in the polls to qualify in the top 16. Ball St was staring down that barrel in 2008 before they s#*t the bed in the MACC (and then in the Go Daddy.... and then for two years after that)

Coaches will not give NIU any benefit of the doubt next year. In fact, to preserve their precious BCS I'd bet a bacon-covered maple donut that NIU's weak football schedule is held much more against the football team next year, than it was this year.

Ya but didn't the coaches do that this year? Particularly the Big 12 teams, just not even ranking NIU in the final votes?

We'd probably have to go undefeated. Maybe 1 loss to a good team.

We got lucky (in the BCS systems' eyes) this year because of Ohio State. The dominoes fell in our favor because of them. If Oregon gets sanctioned, or Penn State recovers enough to be a top contender, it will continue to block other teams in their respective conferences, opening a path for us again.

If everyone else plays squeaky clean, then it will come down to blow outs. Something we have never really done, but may have to if we want to return to the BCS show and prove that we belong with the "big boys." We have to show that our strength of schedule is weak, even in our eyes.

(01-10-2013 04:04 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  We'd probably have to go undefeated. Maybe 1 loss to a good team.

One loss only works if an AQ conference champion has a down year and other non-AQ teams have two loses. Then we'd still have to hope the BCS ranks NIU in the top 16 (with one loss).

(01-10-2013 03:43 PM)cawoo22 Wrote:  

(01-10-2013 02:18 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  Question: If we only schedule OOC patsies and go 12-0 plus win the MACC, does that provide us with an easier road to BCS bowls?

Yes, because undefeated is always better than not. But, you run the risk of never being able to rise high enough in the polls to qualify in the top 16. Ball St was staring down that barrel in 2008 before they s#*t the bed in the MACC (and then in the Go Daddy.... and then for two years after that)

... and that is why we also need to root for some other MAC teams to get OOC quality victories. We can always benefit from a late season victory over a MAC rival that had previously taken down an AQ school. The polls are about perception and, right or wrong, these victories by proxy can help. For that matter, we all should root for Purdue and Iowa to have stellar seasons (aside from the week we play them, of course).

We need to go undefeated to get another BCS sniff. The powers that be will not be as kind next time around.