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PREVIEW: Northern Illinois at Western Michigan

10/7/2016

 
Picture
Saturday, Oct. 8 – 6:30 p.m. ET
Waldo Stadium – Kalamazoo, MI
CBS Sports Network
 
Two of the heavyweights of  Mid-American Confererence West Division football will be battling it out this weekend. Northern Illinois, the defending MAC champ and a dominant force in the division in recent years will be at Western Michigan Saturday.

​NIU tallied 14 unanswered fourth quarter points to pull out a 27-19 victory in 2015. It was the last of six straight NIU wins. The Huskies dropped their final two games, but nonetheless won a tie-breaker to reach the MAC Championship game.
Western Michigan brings . . . 

. . . a perfect 5-0 record into this week’s matchup. Northern Illinois, by contrast, went 0-4 in non-conference play before winning its MAC opener with a 31-24 win at Ball State Saturday.
Here’s more on the two teams:

NORTHERN ILLINOIS HUSKIES (1-4, 0-0 MAC)
►The Huskies are 45-4 in MAC regular season games since the beginning of the 2010 season.  They have  won the MAC West title in each of the last six seasons.
 
► Western Michigan leads the overall series between the two teams, 23-16, but NIU has won the last six games in the series.
 
► The Huskies gained 355 rushing yards and registered a season-high 653 yards of total offense in the win over Ball State.
 
► In his first career start, QB Anthony Maddie accounted  for  458 yards of  total offense, with 298 passing yards and 160 rushing yards against BSU. Maddie averaged 11.4 ypc, scoring on a 75-yard TD run and throwing two TD passes.
 
► Linebacker Sean Folliard earned MAC West Defensive  Player of the Week honors fter recording 17 tackles at BSU. His  count included 2.5 TFL and a sack, along with a pass breakup.
 
► Joel Bouagnon and Jordan Huff are the big cogs  of  the  running game. Bouagnon hs 365 yards with a TD on 66 carries. Huff has been good for 314 yards and a TD on 48 trips.
 
► Kenny Golladay leads the MAC in all-purpose yards (140.4 ypg) and receptions (7.4 per game). He is second in receiving yards (111.2 ypg).
 
►Northern Illinois ranks second among MAC teams in total offense (47.6 ypg). Western Michigan is third with 459.6 ypg.
 
WESTERN MICHIGAN (5-0, 1-0 MAC)
► WMU is ranked in the Top 25 of the USA Today Amway Coaches Poll.

► WMU is off to its first 5-0 start since 1994. A 6-0 start would be the first since 1941, when the Broncos finished at 8-0. Among its five wins, Western Michigan owns victories over two Big Ten teams (Illinois and Northwestern).

► Wide receiver Corey Davis is currently the active leading receiver in the FBS with 4,252  yards. He is  now the all-time MAC receiving leader and is 753 yards away from the all-time FBS receiving record.

► Head coach P.J. Fleck was a wide receiver at Northern Illinois from 1999-03 and also was an assistant coach for the Huskies fromm 2007-2009.

► The Broncos sacked Central Michigan quarterback Cooper Rush eight times last week. It was the most by a Broncos team since nine against Ball State back in 2006. WMU already has 17 sacks, equaling its total from last year.

► QB Zach Terrell ranks seventh nationally in passer efficiency. The senior is third in the nation in active career passing yards (9.618).

► Cornerback Darius Phillips has returned a kickoff, punt and two interceptions for touchdowns this year.

► Western Michigan is very deep at running back,  but the two key components are Jamauri Bogan (90 carries, 530 yards, 5 TDs) and Jarvion Franklin (71 carries, 345 yards, 4 TDs). 

► WMU leads the MAC in rushing – by a wide  margin. The Broncos have produced 247.0 ypg on the ground. Northern Illinois is next with a 220.2 ypg average. 

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