Northern Illinois at Fresno State

The Northern Illinois Huskies have made five Bowl appearances in the school's history. The first two turned out great as they won them both. But it's been a Bowl disaster ever since. They have played in three Bowl games over the last five years in which they were outscored 81-20 with the offense managing less than a TD per game on average. Fresno State will be making their 24th Bowl appearance and they stand at 12-11. This will be their 11th Bowl since 1999. Northern Illinois piled up 195 points in the three games proceeding their MAC Championship game, but were limited to 21 at home and lost the Conference title to Miami Ohio. This will be a tough motivational spot for a team that was on a serious roll, but were derailed in their Championship game. Fresno State closed the season with a big straight up win as a TD underdog vs. the Big-10's Illinois and will be the confident inspired team in this one. Coach Hill has covered over 60% of his games vs. non-conference opponents since he has been at Fresno State, spanning 59 games. Teams coming into their Bowl game having lost their last game after winning at least seven in a row prior to that are just 2-7 ATS in their last nine Bowl appearances. The Huskies are just 2-5 straight-up since last season vs. winning teams. My computer matchup favors the Huskies but I like Fresno State here.