We need another big win against Northern Illinois

[Todd4State]

Big as in margin. I really liked how we took care of business against Alcorn after a big win against Arizona State and that really impressed me about our team. I remember sometimes during the Sherrill era we would have a big win and then be incredibly flat the next week. Frustrating!

Anyway, I'd like to see us hang something like 56 on them but I don't know if we can do it because UNI has a good defense I think (small sample size against teams that I don't think are very good so I won't flip out if we only get 35 or something like USM). At the same time, I think we will be the best team UNI has played to date.

I do feel confident though that our defense will play well against them which I think they need to do to continue to build confidence. 20 points or less in every game so far including a shutout even if that shutout is over Alcorn is really good so far. Especially considering that this defense isn't 2018 or 1999 level by any stretch of the imagination. So far though, even though we do have some issues on defense I think it's fair to say we don't suck either.

[TrapGame]

Todd, let me blow your mind. While NIU has a rush defense ranked #13 based off Holy Cross and Maryland the Bulldogs total defense thus far in 3 games is ranked #27.

I think this game will be similar to the USM game.

[99jc]

I think 42-13 The men in Black!

[klong-dog]

38-20 State

[Todd4State]

Todd, let me blow your mind. While NIU has a rush defense ranked #13 based off Holy Cross and Maryland the Bulldogs total defense thus far in 3 games is ranked #27.

I think this game will be similar to the USM game.

I think it's either going to be like 49-56 us and like 3-10 UNI OR it's going to be like USM like you said if their defense is better than I anticipate.

[Todd4State]

I think 42-13 The men in Black!

You think we lose 42-13? LOL.

[PGHBulldogBG]

We will need to score most our points through the air in this one. UNI has a strong running defense. This will be lower scoring I think 28-10 type game. Their struggles are offensively

[Goldendawg]

We will need to score most our points through the air in this one. UNI has a strong running defense. This will be lower scoring I think 28-10 type game. Their struggles are offensively

Beg to disagree. We need to stabilize our OL rotation and ability to run the ball to improve our time of possession to give our D more rest. If we can't run the ball against NIU (and we couldn't against ASU), how to you expect success in the run game against most of our upcoming SEC foes?

[Pancho]

I hope to be proven wrong but I doubt by years end the AZ State D will rate high.

[Westdawg]

I hope to be proven wrong but I doubt by years end the AZ State D will rate high.

I tend to believe that the Arizona State DL will be one of the best 3-4 lines we face this year. They were very very good. Now we did make them look great at times against the run. I attribute a good bit of that to our OL not having had time to jell and trust themselves or each other - there was a LOT of thinking going on at the snap of the ball for our guys. We are going to be much improved as the season wears on at running the ball.

[Todd4State]

I tend to believe that the Arizona State DL will be one of the best 3-4 lines we face this year. They were very very good. Now we did make them look great at times against the run. I attribute a good bit of that to our OL not having had time to jell and trust themselves or each other - there was a LOT of thinking going on at the snap of the ball for our guys. We are going to be much improved as the season wears on at running the ball.

I think we were missing a starter or two as well. I do agree with you that Arizona State is a very good team and they are very physical. To me, given the opponent I thought we did OK. They're just a hard team to get explosive runs against.

[Goldendawg]

We will need to score most our points through the air in this one. UNI has a strong running defense. This will be lower scoring I think 28-10 type game. Their struggles are offensively

If we can't run against them we are in trouble when we begin SEC play. This is not the team that beat Notre Dame. They have 18 new starters overall. They have beat Holy Cross and lost to a yet TBD Maryland team.

[maroonmania]

NIU is very weak offensively. I will be disappointed if we give up more than 10 points to them without us giving them points on turnovers. They will likely run a lot and try to shorten the game on us. I could see something like 31-7 in this game. If we dont win handily then its concerning. This NIU team is nowhere near as talented as last year's NIU team.