NIU at Toledo, Noon, CBSSN
I think the following matchups are all better, but this is probably the game that will tell us the most about the pair of teams involved this week. NIU has been wildly improved from its 0-6 campaign a year ago, upsetting Georgia Tech and knocking off both Maine and a capable Eastern Michigan team, while coming up just short against Wyoming (and getting crushed by Michigan) to open the year 3-2.
A win here would cement NIU as one of the better teams in the league, and justify the huge youth movement that head coach Thomas Hammock undertook last season, rebuilding his roster around upwards of 70 underclassmen in 2020.
Toledo, meanwhile, needs a prove-it game. The Rockets are also 3-2 and also won their first MAC game of the year, but have been tremendously difficult to understand through five weeks.
They entered the year as the MAC favorites and looked the part against Norfolk State in week one and UMass in week five, with a near upset over Notre Dame in week two. But, they were beaten by a bad Colorado State team at home in week three and looked shaky against an even worse Ball State team a week later.
It’s a fun styles clash, too. Toledo’s offense is the least efficient in the entire conference, but it’s also easily the most explosive. NIU’s, meanwhile, is the most efficient, but fourth from the bottom in explosiveness.
The Rockets should win, thanks to a far less confusing defense, but if this swings in the other direction, Western Michigan and Kent State are easily the favorites in the league, and we should perhaps begin to look at Jason Candle as “not the answer” in Toledo.
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