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Northern Illinois at Kent State Football Odds & Picks

Written by Jimmy Boyd

The Northern Illinois Huskies play their third straight midweek game when the travel to Kent Stat on November 18th. The last two have been frustrating losses in which the highly touted defense has been torched for a total of 78 points against Ball State and Central Michigan respectively, but odds makers remain confident that the Huskies will end the drought this week against the 3-7 Kent State Golden Flashes. BetUS odds makers have listed Northern Illinois as the 3.5-point favorite.

While NIU’s defense has been struggling, the Golden Flashes offense does not pose as large of a threat as Ball State’s or Central Michigan’s, at least on paper, put it will still be a force to be reckoned with. QB’s Nate Davis and Dan LeFevour lived up to their billing in each of those contests and now the Huskies will be faced with the challenge of containing Kent State QB Julian Edelman. Edelman is a dual-threat, leading the flashes in rushing, passing, total offense, and scoring. Kent State ended a two-game skid with a big 41-38 win over Temple least week so they will have a little momentum on their side, but the Huskies have plenty to play for. They can keep their slim bowl hopes alive with wins over Kent State and Navy. Offensively, its the Chandler Harnish show. He ranks second on the team in rushing and is becoming a big time performer in his first season as a starter. Me’co Brown combines with Harnish and a couple others to average 171.4 rushing yards per game. Defensively, the Huskies know they need to be better after getting hit in the mouth consecutive weeks. The Huskies enter the Kent State contest allowing 18.7 points and 309.7 yards per game. Watch defensive end Larry English work this week as he is a guy you’ll be seeing on Sundays. If you think the Huskies can bounce back from back-to-back losses and cover the number in the process, bet Northern Illinois at -3.5.

Kent State’s toughest opponent has been itself this season as costly turnovers are largely responsible for the 3-7 mark. For the second time in three games, Kent State rolled up huge offensive numbers and took down a MAC East Division opponent with something to play for. They crushed the Miami Ohio Redhawks 54-21 on October 25th and then racked up 561 yards of total offense on one of the MAC’s better defensive units in a 41-38 win over Temple on November 12th. Senior quarterback Julian Edelman is leading the way. He became the 25th player in I-A history to top 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards passing in the same season. Junior running back Eugene Jarvis rushed for a season-high 185 yards and one touchdown to eclipse the 100-yard mark for the 15th time in his career. The offense seems to have found its groove, gaining a combined 1,507 yards in the last three games and scoring on 7-of-8 red-zone opportunities against the MAC’s best defense inside the 20 (Temple). The defensive side of the football still needs work. Temple was able to throw over the top of Kent State’s defense for big yards and touchdowns. The Flashes have started eight different players in the four secondary spots this season and none have been up to the task. Bet Kent State at +3.5 if you think its offense can get the job done again.

Check out this week’s college football odds right here at Locksmith Sports via our live lines pages and be sure to do your football betting with Jimmy Boyd all week long for the most winning football picks in the industry.

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