NIU to beat Ball St. straight up Wed. night and here's why...

[johnnymapalo]

Hmm, I've seen NIU play before and they seem to have an offensive deficiency.. they seem to play within the confines of the game and stay close. they don't seem to have that "umph" to blow by teams and put them away.. they seem to play good defense though, thus keeping this one close. Ball State doesn't look like much to me. They scored only 10 points at half time against Eastern Kentucky... they seemed to turn it on after halftime though but they never impressed me. May juss go with the NIU plus the points or ball state on the moneyline. Will have to see...

[Dbldown11]

thanks for the insight johnny......

NIU has played well offensively this year, they put up a lot of points at Minnesota, and western michigan and Indiana St. and eastern Mich, and Toledo. The games they didnt score a lot in were Tennessee, in which they started the game with their 2nd string QB and played the whole 2nd half with their 3rd string QB, not to mention that Tenn. has a decent Defense.

They also didnt score much against Miami Ohio, again the majority of that game was played with their 3rd string QB,

And finally they were not able to score much against Bowling Green...The weather had a lot to do with that game. High winds caused the passing games to be useless.

I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything btw, just trying to help, and provide the info that ive got

[SoonerGreg]

Good stuff Dbldown! Would have never even looked at playing the game. After reading your take I'm in. I'll throw a unit on the ML and 2 Units on the points. By the way don't let haters try to bag on you for being a NIU guy. If you posted they will win every week then I'd say you are a homer, but you don't. You are a guy in the know on your team. I'm the same way with my Sooners. I rarely play them b/c I hate the feeling of seeing the Sooners win but losing a bet.

[Dbldown11]

yup I'm the same way SoonerGreg....Thanks again, and I hope I'm right on this one....We will see tomorrow. GL to us both

[Dbldown11]

The places that had lines of NIU +10 have dropped down to 9.5

All the lines I'm seeing now are 9 or 9.5 As I stated before I expect this line to drop so get on it now as you will not get a better number than where it's at right now

Unless of course you plan on betting Ball St. If you plan on doing that then you should wait until about as close to kickoff as possible cause it's gonna drop a lot I think.........Then again if you plan on Ball St. it doesnt matter when you place ur bet because ur gonna lost no matter where you get the line. haha

[WestsidePete]

Thx again for the writeup Dbldown..like this one a lot

[Dbldown11]

you are very welcome westside.....I can't wait for tomorrows game

[MSUSpartan32]

Teaser:

NIU +16.5
Illinois ML

* Also playing the 9.5

[sportsguy04]

FWIW probably nothing but kind of interesting:

Last year Ball state (7-5, 5-2) defeated NIU (2-10, 1-6), by a score of only 27-21.

NIU had 13 guys out for the season and 24 guys miss multiple games due to injury.

[sportsguy04]

Northern Illinois is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games on the road.

[WestsidePete]

I'm playing this game with Tuesday's Buffalo game on the following plays:

2 team 7 pt teaser -130
Buffalo U-1.5
NIU +16.5

parlay of Buffalo -6 with NIU +10.5 this pays +188

Halfway home...come on NIU

[sportsguy04]

Man if I can get NIU at +10 I will make this my biggest play of the year. After doing alot of research all the numbers point to NIU and getting 10 points.

[GatorFan]

Love your pick Dbldown. I'll ride with ya

[SportNut]

OK OK I'm in too.

[jsnone1]

In on this also:

Parlay (3 Teams) 11/04/08 18:08 ET
bet 5.00 to win 30.00 Result: Pending

MiamiOhio 17
BuffaloU 37 11/04/08(19:40 ET)
BuffaloU -8.5
MiamiOhio 17
BuffaloU 37 11/04/08(19:40 ET)
Over 49.5
NoIllinois
BallState 11/05/08(20:00 ET)
NoIllinois +9.5

Straight Wager 11/04/08 17:54 ET
bet 25.01 to win 22.74 Result: Pending
NoIllinois
BallState 11/05/08(20:00 ET)
NoIllinois +9.5

[Dbldown11]

oh jeez......so many people on NIU at this point.....have a created the SBR jinx on them now? hahaha

[Dbldown11]

Well boys and girls so far my predictions are coming true. The line started at NIU +8 and I said it would go up.....it went up to 9.5 and 10 at some places.

I also said that on gameday the line would begin dropping, and would drop steadily up until kickoff. The line had now dropped to 8.5!

Now lets just hope that the one prediction that counts comes true and that's NIU +10 and ML!!!

[infamousdx]

didnt' do ML but bought a half point to 10... let's gooooooooooo!

[SportsLockPicks]

love NIU

[sportsguy04]

love NIU

I do to but should i get it at 9.5 or wait untill game time. I think by game time it goes down to 8.5

[strictlywinners]

This would usually be huge play for me, Doubledown but as you said so many people like the pick that I think I will shy away from it.

[Dbldown11]

so many people on this site like the pick strictly, but I think that it's because of my magnificent write up hahaha.

overall there are more people on Ball St. than NIU

NIU is the play. and sportsguy you should get on it now, because the line is gonna drop. But in the end it wont matter because NIU will cover 9.5 or 8.5. Shit NIU will win so at a PK or better it's good haha

[sportsguy04]

NIU is the play. and sportsguy you should get on it now, because the line is gonna drop. But in the end it wont matter because NIU will cover 9.5 or 8.5. Shit NIU will win so at a PK or better it's good haha

I agree NIU is the play. Ball State may win this game but 9.5 points is probably to many points. Ball St probably wins by 3.

[Dbldown11]

you may be right sports guy. I titled the thread that NIU will win the game....However Im stepping out on a lim there. I think they have a VERY legit shot of winning it but not putting too much on the ML. The 8.5 or 9.5 or even +8 is a solid bet however, and I will be laying a good amount on that line

[sportsguy04]

you may be right sports guy. I titled the thread that NIU will win the game....However Im stepping out on a lim there. I think they have a VERY legit shot of winning it but not putting too much on the ML. The 8.5 or 9.5 or even +8 is a solid bet however, and I will be laying a good amount on that line

Yeah as long as the line is over 7.5 Im all for NIU.

[Stretch]

This has normally been a very high scoring game. I'm expecting at least one of the teams to reach 25 points tonight, but not sure how likely it's going to be for the other to accomplish the same, and yet the over/under is 47.

[Dbldown11]

yeah I personally wouldnt touch the total. If someone held a gun to my head and forced me to pick I'd take the OV. but I certainly wouldnt feel great about it

[jsnone1]

threw down a little more:

Date placed:
Nov 05, 2008 5:26pSingle #126856454 Football - College Lines (Game) Moneyline
(103) Northern Illinois +290 Wed@8:00p
Competitor104) Ball St. Risk US$ 10.00 to win US$ 29.00

[DaChosen1FoSho]

The line has dropped to +9 at my local book....shhiiiaat. I wont get there for another hour or so, hope it doesn't drop to +8.5.

GRRRRR.

[iranthony]

some stats
Bet the farm on the under tonight. Its a lock. -47.5 money in the bank.
This money making trend has gone 44-14 over the past 5 seasons hitting at a 76% clip.

No Illinois is 7-0 Under when playing against a team with a winning record over the last 3 seasons.
No Illinois is 7-0 Under vs. good passing teams with a completion pct. of 58% or better. over the last 2 seasons.

No Illinois is 6-0 Under in November games over the last 3 seasons.

No Illinois is 6-0 Under after allowing 100 or less rushing yards last game over the last 3 seasons.

[irishdude]

yes you sold me niu big time

[sportsguy04]

The line is shrinking....

[Aces]

DblDown

I know my SEC I hope you know your MAC.

Moneyline Play
1st Quarter +3
Parlay Alabama MoneyLine with NIU Money Line

[unde0087]

Whoever you take keep it small, these two teams combined have beaten no one, the only thing NIU can say is they kept it close to Michigan St and Tennesee both on the road, so I guess you would have to lean toward NIU to be able to keep this one inside the number.

[masr]

With you on this game Dbldwn
NIU have won 7 out of 9 games vs. Ball St. & have won 4 straight @ Ball St, if any team is not intimidated by Ball St and their perfect record it's NIU who have beaten up these guys for the last decade.
No. ILL has lost 3 games TY none more than 4 pts.
No Ill 5-0 ATS road games
NIU 8-2 ATS in their last 10 games overall
Ball St. 1-4 ATS last 5 home games vs. team w/ winning record

Go huskies +10