Navy Football - Navy Midshipmen(6-4) Vs Northern Illinois Huskies (6-5) Preview and Predictions

On Tuesday 25 November 2008, the Navy Midshipmen (6-4) travel to Huskie Stadium, IL to play the Northern Illinois Huskies (6-5). The Midshipmen are coming off of a tough loss to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on 15 November 2008. Although the Midshipmen lost, the game was just another indication of how much the Navy football program has turned around in the last six years compared to the mid-90's. No longer do fans talk about how much the Fighting Irish will be the Midshipmen by, but actually discuss the betting odds, and so forth! The game at the Huskies on Tuesday will be Navy's final game to prepare for Army on 6 December and ultimately the EagleBank Bowl.

The Huskies are coming off of a big win over Kent State last week (42-14). The game against Navy is NIU's last game of the season so they are pretty solidly in fourth place in the MAC West division with #17 Ball State having a lock on first place in the West Division. A victory over Navy would put Ball State in a better position to try and line up a bowling opportunity!

Navy Trends

After beating Notre Dame last year 46-44 in triple overtime, the Midshipmen entered the game against the Fighting Irish trying to obtain back-to-back victories for the first time since 1960-61.

Unfortunately for Navy fans, Eric Kettani fumbled with a minute left in the first half which the Irish used to take a 10-7 lead going into half time. Navy got down 27-7 before making a late comeback, but ultimately fell short losing 27-21. Navy's second=ranked rushing offense was held to a season-low 178 yards and was out-gained 230-178 in the game. Navy will look to minimize the Huskies rushing attack while sticking to their standard offensive plan this season trying to maximize gains on the ground and control the ball possession battle.

Northern Illinois

Chandler Harnish had a big game over Kent State at quarterback last week throwing two touchdowns and rushing for two more. Overall the Huskies gained 397 offensive yards and held Kent to 253. They will be focused on stopping the Navy rushing attack in the upcoming game and try to obtain their seventh victory of the season! If the Huskies can hold on to the ball and avoid turnovers against the Midshipmen, they should have a chance to win the ball-game.

Prediction

Navy enters this game already going to the EagleBank Bowl. If the Midshipmen can pull off their seventh victory of the season, they will be in a good position to go for 9 wins this season and a potential top-25 ranking! Odds have not been released for the game at the time of writing this article, but our prediction is that Navy will win the game against the Huskies by seven points.