2008 Independence Bowl
Northern Illinois (6-6) vs. Louisiana Tech (7-5)
Dec. 28, 8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN
Payout:
$1.1 million Location: Independence Stadium, Shreveport, LA
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2008 Independence Bowl
Player Profiles, Histories, & More
 |
|
National
Rankings |
|
Louisiana Tech |
No. Illinois |
|
Total Offense |
|
67th 352 ypg |
84th 334.75 ypg |
|
Total Defense |
|
77th 379.67 ypg |
20th 303.67 ypg |
|
Scoring Offense |
|
65th 25.25 ppg |
63rd 25.33 ppg |
|
Scoring Defense |
|
59th 24.83 ppg |
16th 18.08 ppg |
|
Run Offense |
|
25th 195 ypg |
38th 172.75 ypg |
|
Run Defense |
|
11th 99.75 ypg |
60th 141.17 ypg |
|
Pass Offense |
|
102nd 157 ypg |
101st 162 ypg |
|
Pass Defense |
|
116th 279.92 ypg |
5th 162.50 ypg |
|
Turnover Margin |
|
24th 0.58 |
42nd 0.33 |
|
Louisiana Tech
Miss St W 22-14
at Kansas L 29--0
SE La W
41-26
at Boise St L 38-3
at Hawaii L 28-14
Idaho W 46-14
at Army L 14-7
Fresno St W 38-35
at SJSU W 21-0
Utah State W
45-38
at NMSU W 35-31
Nevada L 35-31 |
Northern Illinois
at Minn L 31-27
at WMU L 29-26
Indiana St W
48-3
at EMU W 37-0
at Tenn. L 13-9
Miami Univ. W
17-13
Toledo W 38-7
Bo Green W 16-13
at Ball State L 45-14
CMU L
33-30 OT
at Kent St W 42-14
Navy L 16-0 |
|
Position
Ratings
relative to each
other |
|
LT |
5
highest
1 lowest |
NIU |
|
2 |
Quarterbacks |
3 |
|
4 |
RBs |
3 |
|
2.5 |
Receivers |
2.5 |
|
3.5 |
O
Line |
4 |
|
3.5 |
D
Line |
3.5 |
|
3.5 |
Linebackers |
3.5 |
|
2.5 |
Secondary |
4 |
|
4 |
Spec
Teams |
3 |
|
4 |
Coaching |
3.5 |
|
By
Pete Fiutak
The SEC and Big 12 have waged
war in nine of the last 10
Independence Bowls with Alabama
using its win over Colorado last
year as a stepping stone to a
big 2008 season, Missouri using
a win over South Carolina in
2005 to propel itself into its
best era ever, and Mississippi
State beat Texas A&M in the
classic blizzard game in 2000.
And this year it’s Northern
Illinois vs. Louisiana Tech.
This might be Joy Behar on the
bowl glamour scale, but it
should be a competitive matchup
between two programs fired up to
be in the post-season, and fired
up to get the BCS-league caliber
payout. If nothing else, history
is on the side of this being a
good game with eight of the last
nine bowls decided by seven
points or fewer.
This is just the third bowl trip
in the history of Louisiana Tech
football, and the program isn’t
taking this game lightly. The
last bowl was in 2001 when the
Bulldogs faced a Clemson team
that decided to try in the
Humanitarian Bowl, a 49-24 Tiger
win, and the other post-season
game was a 34-34 tie against
Maryland in the 1990
Independence Bowl. That’s it. So
while staying close to home
might not seem like a great
reward for a 7-5 season, for
second year head coach Derek
Dooley, getting the national
college spotlight, even though
94% of the sports world will be
watching the Broncos - Chargers
game, it’s big.
For Northern Illinois, Christmas
came early for a team that
probably shouldn’t be anywhere
near the bowls. The Huskies
finished the year losing three
of their last four games, and
when they needed to beat Navy at
home to assure themselves of a
bowl bid, they were shut out in
a 16-0 clunker. Even so, for
first year head coach Jerry
Kill’s team, after going 2-10
last year this is a tremendous
step forward for a program that
has gone to just three bowl
games.
Helped by a good early stretch
of wins against horrible teams,
NIU was able to build up a
decent record to soften the
blows once the meat of the
schedule hit. On the down side,
the Huskies got blown out by
Ball State and needed everything
in the bag to get by an awful
Miami University team, but of
the six losses, one was by four
to Minnesota on a late Gopher
touchdown and a just-missed
final pass into the end zone,
one was by three on the road to
Western Michigan, one was by
four at Tennessee, and one was
in overtime against Central
Michigan. Winning close games
hasn’t been a strong suit for
the program over the last few
years, but being competitive
hasn’t been a problem.
Louisiana Tech had a strange
season, starting out with a
22-14 win over Mississippi State
in what was supposed to be a
tone-setter, and then came a
stretch of three losses in four
games, with the one win coming
against SE Louisiana from the
FCS. After losing to Kansas,
Boise State and Hawaii by a
combined score of 91-17, and
after a clunker of a loss to
Army, the 3-4 Bulldogs appeared
to be going nowhere fast. And
then came the run with four
straight wins with three of them
by less than a touchdown before
losing to Nevada 35-31 in the
season finale. While NIU
struggled to win close games,
Louisiana Tech was able to pull
them out. And now, with a
virtual home game, the pressure
is on to not just win, but to
make a statement.
The WAC already took it on the
chin with Fresno State losing to
Colorado State in the New Mexico
Bowl, and a home loss for Tech
would be disastrous for the
conference. Northern Illinois
has the athletes and the talent
to win, and if it can pull this
off, all of a sudden the MAC
might vault ahead of the WAC in
terms of respect; at least it
might for a moment or two.
Between the two teams they’ve
played 12 games this season
decided by eight points or
fewer, the Independence Bowl is
almost always good, and there
aren’t any other bowl games
going on. This might not be the
most scintillating of matchups,
but it should be competitive.
Players to watch:
The eyes of the NFL scouts will
be focused solely on #51 for the
Huskies; senior DE Larry
English. A whirling dervish
of a playmaker, he’s a classic
tweener with too much speed for
more offensive tackles and just
enough strength to handle
himself against the run. The MAC
Defensive Player of the Year has
31.5 career sacks and 211
tackles, even though he didn’t
have a monstrous statistical
year thanks to constant double
and triple teaming. At the next
level he projects to be an
outside linebacker in a 3-4 or a
pass rushing specialist in a
4-3, and while the NFL types
know all about him, one final
big game wouldn’t hurt.
Louisiana Tech has a playmaker
of its own on the line in junior
D’Anthony Smith. A big
end playing tackle, the
292-pounder led the team with
five sacks while serving as a
consistently strong inside
presence against the run. A
First Team All-WAC selection,
it’ll be up to him to generate
pressure into the backfield
while forcing the running game
to work on the outside.
Offensively, junior RB Daniel
Porter has been the star of
the show over the second half of
the season. The First Team
All-WAC selection ripped off
five 100-yard games in the final
seven to finish with 1,086 yards
and eight touchdowns. With the
ability to start and stop on a
dime, he’s a quick, tough runner
who can bounce to the outside
when needed and isn’t afraid to
hit the hole when he has to.
This has been a difficult year
for an NIU running game that
dominated for so many years in
the MAC. Redshirt freshman QB
Chandler Harnish was the
team’s second-leading rusher
even though he didn’t take over
the full-time job until the
second half of the year. While
he ran for 113 yards against
Bowling Green and 117 against
Kent State, he’s had a hard time
limiting his mistakes in the
passing game with even
interceptions and just two
touchdown passes over the final
five games. He has the potential
to be the playmaker the offense
works around for the next three
years, and a big performance
against the Bulldogs in a bowl
win would do wonders for his
role this off-season.
Northern Illinois will win if...
the run defense can hold the
Bulldogs to under 200 yards.
Tech was able to beat
Mississippi State despite
rushing for just 41 yards. In
the other 11 games, Tech was 6-0
when running for 200 yards or
more and 0-5 when it was under.
The passing game isn’t strong
enough to carry the offense when
the ground attack isn’t working,
and the NIU run defense is just
tough enough to keep Porter and
the Bulldog runners under wraps.
Even with games against elite
running teams like Navy and Kent
State to bring down the stats,
the Huskies gave of a
respectable 141 rushing yards
per game.
Louisiana Tech will win if...
the pass rush is working. NIU
has a good pass rush thanks to
English, but the Bulldogs can
bring it from inside and out.
Tech has to keep the NIU running
game under wraps early on and
force NIU to throw. If that
happens, the Bulldog defensive
front can pin its ears back and
make Harnish make plays on the
move. Harnish is mobile, but
he’s not going to bomb away for
big yards. NIU is a momentum
team. Against Navy, the Huskies
got down early, struggled right
away and never recovered, so if
Tech can get off to a hot start,
this should be over.
What will happen:
This won’t be the most
aesthetically pleasing of games,
but it should be competitive and
it should be close late into the
second half. The Tech defense
will be a wee bit better than
the Huskie defense, while the
home field flair will help just
enough to pull off the tight
win.
Line: Northern Illinois
-1 ... CFN Prediction:
Louisiana Tech 17 … Northern
Illinois 13
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2008 Independence Bowl
Player Profiles, Histories, & More