I've been good friends with Rivals.com's Nebraska site HuskerOnline publisher Sean Callahan for years and he asked me my take on NIU a few days before the win.
Again not patting myself on the back but this makes me sound like Nostradamus lol
After really struggling to find a quality Northern Illinois expert this week, I realized I had one right under my nose the entire time.
“Edgy” Tim O’Halloran is the No. 1 high school football expert in the Chicago land area (He owns and operates EdgyTim.com.) He’s very in tune with the Northern Illinois program and their talent. He shared some pretty good insight with me on Saturday’s game….
How good is this team compared to NIU team’s of the best
“Talent level, I think they are comparable to some of the good teams they’ve had,” O’Halloran said. “They’ve had a few issues here and there, certainly quarterback has been an issue for them the past couple of years. It’s been both performance and/or just keeping them healthy on the field. They are ‘Blue-Collar U’. That is Northern Illinois. That’s what they identify themselves as. They are just a blue-collar group.
“They go and get the kids that are just an inch or two too short or 10 to 15 pounds too light. They play with a major chip on their shoulder and they have for a long time, and that’s kind of what’s gotten them to the levels they’ve gotten. This is a good team. I think again their struggles are going to be offensively. Defensively, they have a lot of speed and ironically their 2018 local class may be the best in-state class they’ve had in a long, long time.”
Why have they dipped off the last couple of years after making the Orange Bowl?
“The past couple of years in recruiting they’ve basically gotten beat by P.J. Fleck, which is interesting since he went to Northern Illinois,” O’Halloran said. “I think Fleck actually woke people up in that conference, because he started offering kids earlier and earlier, where MAC teams normally would sit back and let the bigger Division I schools pick who they want, and then they’d go in an offer kids. They changed that philosophy in 2018 and it’s kind of paid off for them.”
What’s this game mean to Northern Illinois?
“I think the pay check doesn’t hurt. Then you look at how things have gone in this state with the colleges and the whole financial situation with this state…I mean this state is a disaster right now,” O’Halloran said. “Athletic programs are cutting and continuing to cut. This is a big pay day for Northern and you can’t deny that.”
***O’Halloran added quarterback is the real issue for NIU right now. That’s probably why they’ve dropped off from where they used to be.
He said if they are going to beat Nebraska, it will be with their defense. They will play hard and fast and try to force turnovers. They have a pretty good defense for MAC standards.
Again not patting myself on the back but this makes me sound like Nostradamus lol
After really struggling to find a quality Northern Illinois expert this week, I realized I had one right under my nose the entire time.
“Edgy” Tim O’Halloran is the No. 1 high school football expert in the Chicago land area (He owns and operates EdgyTim.com.) He’s very in tune with the Northern Illinois program and their talent. He shared some pretty good insight with me on Saturday’s game….
How good is this team compared to NIU team’s of the best
“Talent level, I think they are comparable to some of the good teams they’ve had,” O’Halloran said. “They’ve had a few issues here and there, certainly quarterback has been an issue for them the past couple of years. It’s been both performance and/or just keeping them healthy on the field. They are ‘Blue-Collar U’. That is Northern Illinois. That’s what they identify themselves as. They are just a blue-collar group.
“They go and get the kids that are just an inch or two too short or 10 to 15 pounds too light. They play with a major chip on their shoulder and they have for a long time, and that’s kind of what’s gotten them to the levels they’ve gotten. This is a good team. I think again their struggles are going to be offensively. Defensively, they have a lot of speed and ironically their 2018 local class may be the best in-state class they’ve had in a long, long time.”
Why have they dipped off the last couple of years after making the Orange Bowl?
“The past couple of years in recruiting they’ve basically gotten beat by P.J. Fleck, which is interesting since he went to Northern Illinois,” O’Halloran said. “I think Fleck actually woke people up in that conference, because he started offering kids earlier and earlier, where MAC teams normally would sit back and let the bigger Division I schools pick who they want, and then they’d go in an offer kids. They changed that philosophy in 2018 and it’s kind of paid off for them.”
What’s this game mean to Northern Illinois?
“I think the pay check doesn’t hurt. Then you look at how things have gone in this state with the colleges and the whole financial situation with this state…I mean this state is a disaster right now,” O’Halloran said. “Athletic programs are cutting and continuing to cut. This is a big pay day for Northern and you can’t deny that.”
***O’Halloran added quarterback is the real issue for NIU right now. That’s probably why they’ve dropped off from where they used to be.
He said if they are going to beat Nebraska, it will be with their defense. They will play hard and fast and try to force turnovers. They have a pretty good defense for MAC standards.
