NORTHERN ILLINOIS vs COASTAL CAROLINA
Exploria Stadium - Orlando, FL
ESPN2
Northern Illinois won the 2021 Mid-American Conference football title because the Huskies excelled at pulling off upsets and winning close games.
It will take at least one more upset -- and maybe a close win -- if NIU is to reach double figure wins for the 2021 campaign. The Huskies are currently 9-4 overall (6-2 MAC), and standing in their way is a 10-2 Coastal Carolina program that was just nine points short of a perfect regular season.
One year earlier, the Chanticleers did bring an undefeated record to the FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl game. Although it lost that final test in overtime (37-34 to Liberty), CCU continued to impress in 2021. It reeled off six straight wins before falling to Appalachian State 30-27. It then won four of the next five, losing to George State 42-40 while missing several key players.
Among its non-conference conquests this year, Coastal Carolina defeated the Buffalo Bulls 28-25 in Week Three. It also rolled past Kansas 49-22 the previous week.
The 2021 Tailgreeter Cure Bowl should see plenty of action on the ground, as both the Chanticleers and Northern Illinois rank in the top-10 in all of FBS in rushing yards per game. The NIU Huskies rank fifth nationally with an average of 234.2 rushing yards per game on the season, which ranks second in the MAC. CCU is right behind the Huskies, as the Chants rank sixth nationally and lead the Sun Belt in rushing yards per game at 231.3.
Here's more on the two teams, who are meeting for the first time . . .
COASTAL CAROLINA CHANTICLEERS (10-2, 6-2 Sunbelt)
• Winning their first six games to start 21, the Chanticleers have been bowl eligible since Oct. 7.
• A 42-40 loss to Georgia State Nov. 13 cost CCU a trip to the Sunbelt Championship game. Among the injured Chanticleers that day was quarterback Grayson McCall. He has since returned and leads a powerful offense.
• McCall, a redshirt sophomore, was the 2021 Sun Belt Conference Play of the Year and semifinalist for several individual awards. He completed 73 percent of his passes this year, producing 2,558 yards and 23 touchdowns with only three interceptions over 10 games.
• Balancing the aerial threat, CCU can also run the ball, as well. The team topped Sunbelt programs, rushing for 231.3 ypg and averaging 5.7 ypc. Shermari Jones led the conference, averaging 98 ypg and 6.5 ypc with 13 TDs in just 10 games.
• Eleven CCU players earned postseason Sunbelt Conference awards.
Preseason All-Sun Belt First Team
Grayson McCall, QB
Isaiah Likely, TE
Jaivon Heiligh, WR
Jeffrey Gunter, Bandit
C.J. Brewer, DT
Silas Kelly, LB
D’Jordan Strong, CB
Preseason All-Sun Belt Second Team
Trey Carter, OL
Willie Lampkin, OL
Teddy Gallagher, LB
Massimo Biscardi, PK
• Coastal Carolina closed out the 2021 regularseason slate with another first, as the Chants posted the program’s first-ever win on the road at South Alabama with a 27-21 overtime win in Mobile, Ala. on Nov. 26.
• The Chanticleer's win against Buffalo this year was CCU's first victory over a MAC team in four tries, dating back to 2009.
• The Coastal offense ranked in the top 40 nationally in several offensive statistical categories last season in 2020.
STAT -- # -- NCAA RANK
Third-Down Conversion Pct. 52.3 4th
Team Passing Efficiency 177.72 6th
Time of Possession 33:50 8th
First Downs 279 9th
Fourth-Down Conversion Pct. 76.5 10th
Fewest Sacks Allowed Per Game 1.17 10th
Passing Yards per Completion 14.54 12th
TFL Allowed Per Game 4.33 14th
Rushing Offense (ypg) 218.3 15th
Completion Pct. 66.6 18th
Scoring Offense (ppg) 37.2 18th
Total Offense (ypg) 449.8 25th
Interceptions Thrown 5 32nd
Red-Zone Offense (pct.) 88.3 34th
• Coastal Carolina tops the nation in team passing efficiency (190.63) and third down conversion percentage (54.1%). The Chants are also among the top 10 in fourth down conversions, completion percentage, passing yards per completion, socirn offense, rushing offense, total offense, and (least) interceptions thrown.
• CCU has scored 30 or more points in nine of its last 12 games and 49 points or more four times this season.
• The Chants have won 27-straight games when leading going into the fourth quarter.
• The Chanticleers have recorded not one, but two 99-yard scoring drives this season, highlighted by a 99-yard touchdown pass from Grayson McCall to Isaiah Likely on the second.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS HUSKIES (9-4, 6-2 MAC)
• After failing to win a game in 2020, the Huskies bounced back to capture the MAC title this season. Former NIU running back Thomas Hammock was named MAC Coach of the Year.
• A season-opening 22-21 Northern Illinois win at Georgia Tech was an early indication that there was a new Huskie team on the prowl. After losses against Wyoming and Michigan, NIU ran off five straight victories. Kent State ended the run with a 52-47 home victory, but Northern Illinois avenged that setback in the MAC Championship game (41-23).
• The Huskies strong running game is helpful for time of possession, but NIU took that to a new level in playing keep away against Kent State's high-power offense. Northern Illinois held the ball for 40:01 minutes overall.
• NIU helped its cause by dominating the first two quarters and took a 17-0 lead to intermission. CJ Brown's 26-yard pick-six interception in the third quarter left the Huskies with a 24-3 lead. KSU's first touchdeown came with 27 seconds left in the third period, but NIU put the game away with two Rocky Lombardy scoring runs.
• NIU is the first team in FBS history to win its conference championship game one season after goinig winless.
• MAC Freshman of the Year Jay Ducker rushed for 146 yards on 29 carries in the MAC Championship Game to surpass the 1,000-yard mark for the season. He needs six yards to break the Huskies’ 44-year old freshman rushing record.
• The 2021 Huskies are looking to become just the second NIU team - and the first since 2011 - to win the MAC Championship Game and a bowl game in the same season.
• : With its appearance in the 2021 Tailgreeter Cure Bowl, the NIU football program is playing in its 11th bowl game in the last 14 seasons, and is in a bowl for the first time under Thomas Hammock. In its last bowl appearance, NIU suffered a 37-13 setback to UAB in the 2018 Boca Raton Bowl. NIU’s last bowl victory came in the 2012 GoDaddy Bowl, where the Huskies defeated Arkansas State, 38-20, on January 8, 2012. NIU has dropped its last six bowl games.
• One of the Huskies’ top defensive performances of the season helped key NIU’s MAC Championship game win. A month after giving up 52 points and 681 yards to the potent Kent State offense, NIU held the Golden Flashes to 300 yards and nearly 30 points less. Through three quarters, the Huskies allowed Kent State just 14 first downs, 10 points and 225 yards - 120 rushing and 105 passing.
• NIU has played in a nation-leading NINE one-score games in 2021, and the Huskies’ seven wins are tied with Louisiana for the most by eight points or less. Six NIU games have been decided by six points or less this year and five have come down to the final minutes of the game.
• Five different NIU players have run for more than 400 rushing yards this season as the Huskies rank fifth nationally in rushing offense with 234.2 yards per game. Four Huskies have posted 100-yard rushing games 11 times this season with 10 of those recorded by freshmen.
• Trayvon Rudolph’s 17.9 yards per catch average ranks 29th nationally and is 11th among players with at least 45 catches this season. He has 13 catches, one run and four kickoff returns of at least 25 yards in 2021, Rudolph’s seven touchdown catches in 2021 are the most by a Huskie since 2017. He leads NIU in catches (49) and receiving yards (877) and joined teammates Tyrice Richie and Cole Tucker to surpass the 1,000-yard mark in career receiving yards. He has 1,109 yards on 63 catches for a 17.6 career average.
• Former Michigan State QB Rocky Lombardi is quietly putting together one of the top seasons by a passer in NIU history. His 2,416 passing yards are currently eighth on the Huskie single season charts and are the most by a NIU QB in a single season since 2014 (Drew Hare), his 180 completions are 10th, while his 201.3 yards per game average ranks ninth. Lombardi is averaging 13.4 yards per completion this season, seventh on the all-time list, while his average of 7.13 yards per play in total offense is sixth sixth-best in NIU history and the best since Jordan Lynch in 2012.
• The Huskie offense ranks FIRST in the nation (FBS) in fourth down conversion percentage this year, having been successful on 19-of-23 tries for an 82.6 rate. NIU has converted each of its last 12 fourth down attempts, dating back to the third quarter of the Central Michigan game on October 23.
• NIU redshirt sophomore kicker John Richardson has made four game-winning field goals in his career with two in his freshman season of 2019 and two this season. Richardson’s kicks in 2021 won the Toledo (10-9) and Ball State (11-10) games by 22- 20 and 30-29 scores, respectively, with field goals of 29 and 32 yards. In 2019, Richardson’s 37-yard field goal as time expired gave the Huskies a 39-36 win at Ohio (10-12); he made a 25-yard three with 41 seconds left to lift NIU to a 31-28 win at Toledo (11-13). With Richardson out for the Central Michigan game, true freshman back-up Kanon Woodill made a 26-yard game-winner with 54 seconds to play. Woodill went 3-for-3 on field goals in the game.