The Northern Illinois Huskies face the Bowling Green Falcons Friday night in the Mid-American Conference Championship game. This is the third consecutive year these two teams will meet in the MAC title game, and each team has won once in their previous meetings. Bowling Green head coach Dino Babers has led his team to a 9-3 record and is looking for his first MAC title as the head coach of the Falcons. Northern Illinois head coach Rod Carey has lead the Huskies to four straight MAC title games and looks to earn his third title Friday evening.
Carey is a former offensive line coach for Northern Illinois and has been with the program for five straight MAC Championship games. The Huskies have been to six straight title games and are looking to repeat as champions with a win over Bowling Green Friday night.
Carey will need freshman quarterback Tommy Fiedler to step up, as the Huskies have been decimated with injuries at the quarterback position this season. Quarterback Drew Hare suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon in a win over Toledo on Nov. 3, and backup quarterback Anthony Maddie has been out for the season following back surgery in September. Next was redshirt freshman quarterback Ryan Graham who suffered a leg injury in the Huskies' last game of the season.
Now Fiedler will look to be a hero for the Huskies, but with little experience he faces a difficult challenge against Bowling Green. Fiedler had just a 52.9 completion percentage in relief for Graham against Ohio but managed to throw one touchdown in the loss. Carey will need a strong ground game if he wants to beat a tough Bowling Green team, and running back Joel Bouagnon will look to take pressure off his freshman quarterback.
The Huskies' junior running back leads the team with 1,212 rushing yards this season and has scored 18 touchdowns. Bouagnon struggled against Ohio in their last outing, averaging just 2.3 yards per carry in the loss. The Huskies will need an improved ground attack against the Falcons or this title game could be over quickly.
While Northern Illinois has struggled all season to keep a quarterback healthy, the Falcons have had no such problem. Bowling Green quarterback Matt Johnson leads all of FBS college football with 4,465 passing yards. The Falcons' senior quarterback has thrown an amazing 41 touchdowns to just six interceptions on the season. Johnson is a dual-threat quarterback, and while he makes a majority of plays with his arm he has also rushed for four touchdowns this year.
Johnson will look to target the Falcons' top wide out Roger Lewis on Friday evening, as the sophomore receiver is having a huge year. Lewis has caught 76 passes for 1,401 yards and has scored 14 touchdowns. Babers may look to open this game up early, as he likely knows it will be difficult for the Huskies to play a game of catch up with a freshman backup quarterback with little experience.
It's a third consecutive rematch for the MAC title Friday night, and although Northern Illinois is shorthanded at the quarterback position it could turn out to be a very interesting game. The game starts at 8 p.m. Eastern, and you can watch the live broadcast here. To listen to the Falcons' radio broadcast, click here, and for the Huskies' radio broadcast, go here.
