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Football Picks: Central Michigan at Northern Illinois

Written by Jack Jones

The Northern Illinois Huskies will play host on Wednesday night to the Chippewas from Central Michigan in Mid-American Conference action. The Huskies come into this game at 5-4 SU and 5-3 ATS while the Chippewas are an impressive 7-2 SU and 5-3 ATS. We’ll take a look at the college football odds posted for this game, which currently have Northern Illinois as a 3.5-point favorite with the total set at 49.

The Huskies are the favorites despite coming off an embarrassing loss last week to Ball State, 45-14, as eight-point underdogs playing on the road and in the national spotlight. Northern Illinois was outgained 529 to 275 in that one, and two turnovers also didn’t help the cause.

Central Michigan is coming off an impressive win back on November 1st when they took on the Indiana Hoosiers and won a 37-34 shootout on the road. The team was a two-point underdog playing without their star player in quarterback Dan LeFevour, who was last season’s MAC Offensive Player of the Year. The victory gave the Chippewas their five straight win and the team has put up 30 points per game over that stretch. However, every game has been a close one with Central Michigan giving up 24.8 points per game over that time and all five of those wins have come by 10 points or less.

The Chippewas are still in contention for the MAC title at 5-0, sitting just a half game back in the West Division behind Ball State, who took care of Miami of Ohio last night. Northern Illinois is in fourth place in the West with a 4-2 mark.

Last year’s matchup between these two teams went Central Michigan’s way. The Chippewas were three-point favorites playing at home but ended up blowing out the Huskies 35-10. Even though the score was lopsided, NIU outgained their opponents 521-381, but four interceptions and two lost fumbles were too much for the team to overcome. The loss dropped Northern Illinois to 7-2-1 ATS in the last ten matchups between these two teams, and the home team has gone 5-0-1 ATS over the last six meetings. The Chippewas haven’t covered the last five times they have played the Huskies on the road.

You have to like how Central Michigan has gone 29-10-3 ATS over their last 42 games, 6-2-2 ATS on their last 10 road games, and 21-6-3 ATS in the conference. The Chippewas are also 4-1 ATS their last five games as an underdog, 17-6-2 ATS their last 25 on turf, and 8-3 ATS against above .500 teams.

Northern Illinois on the other hand is still a profitable team as well, going 8-3 ATS in their last 11 games, 5-1 ATS in their last six November contests and 5-2 ATS the last seven times they have played on turf.

Some total trends to consider are for Central Michigan games are: the OVER is 12-5 in their last 17 games, they have gone OVER 16-5-1 in their last 22, and five straight OVERS against winning teams. Northern Illinois’s trends favor the UNDER with streaks of 20-6-1 overall, 13-3-1 at home, 19-7-2 in MAC play, 7-1 in November games, and 7-1 against teams above .500.

Want to win with your football betting on this game? Then get signed up for the college football picks offered by expert handicapper Jack Jones. He has spent hours pouring over this matchup and has the college football odds pinned down on this game and others this week.

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