Rockets' Title Hopes on Line in Tuesday's Game at Northern Illinois
A loss to NIU would knock UT out of MAC West title hunt

Nov. 5, 2004

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Toledo, OH - Question: What's at stake in Tuesday's Toledo-Northern Illinois game in DeKalb?

Answer: Everything.

A win over the Huskies would put the Rockets in the driver's seat to claim the spoils of the MAC West Division title. UT would also need to defeat Bowling Green at home on Nov. 23 to claim at least a share of the title and advance to the MAC Championship Game via tie-breaker (head-to-head win vs. NIU). An NIU win would eliminate UT and send the Huskies to the MAC title game, no matter what happened in their season finale at EMU (BGSU could still earn a share of the West title, but NIU holds the tie-breaker over the Falcons due to their win on Sept. 24).

As if that wasn't enough to make this a juicy game for the ESPN2 viewing audience, there is also the issue of the recent history of this matchup. Toledo has dominated the series overall, but NIU's recent rise has made this a game to watch in the past few years. The Rockets lead the series, 25-6, and have won 10 straight. The most memorable victory among those 10 had to be two years ago in DeKalb. Toledo fell behind, 17-0, and trailed 30-26 with less than a minute to play when Donta' Greene took a short pass around the right end for a 26-yard TD pass, giving Toledo a 33-30 lead with 41 seconds left. A game-tying 62-yard field goal attempt by Steve Azar as time ran out fell short. Last year in the Glass Bowl, the Rockets held a tenuous 28-24 lead in the third quarter before putting NIU away, 49-30.

The Rockets (6-3, 5-1 MAC) are coming off a 23-16 loss at Miami on Tuesday, Nov. 2. Toledo outgained the Redhawks, 380-371, but four Rocket turnovers were the difference. The last UT turnover was converted into the game-winning touchdown for Miami on the first play of the fourth quarter. Toledo had two sustained drives in the final 15 minutes, but was unable to convert.

Northern Illinois (7-2, 6-0 MAC), ranked No. 24 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll, had a big scare on the night before Halloween, but managed to survive in a 38-31 overtime win at Ball State. Sophomore tailback Garrett Wolfe ran for 280 yards an three TDs vs. the Cardinals, the last score the game-winner in overtime. Wolfe leads the MAC with 1,297 yards and 15 rushing TDs. Senior quarterback Josh Haldi is back in the lineup after missing a couple of games with an injury. The Huskies have been very consistent this season. Their only two losses were close road defeats, 23-20 at Maryland and 48-41 at Iowa State.