Matchup: Western Michigan vs. Northern Illinois

Vegas Line: Western Michigan -3

Room44B Predicted Line: Western Michigan -2

Room44B Minimum Value Moneyline: Western Michigan – 119

Analysis

Western Michigan comes to Northern Illinois in another Tuesday night #MACtion game. While Western Michigan has had some very good performances, as last week shows, they can be inconsistent at times, even to the point of costing themselves a game. An inopportune fumble last week cost them a game that they were in complete control of after the first half.

NIU, on the other hand, has proven to be a scrappy team that doesn’t quit. Despite having a negative score differential on the season, they have a very good record on the season. In this matchup, all signs point to WMU being able to control the game. There is not a single matchup that favors NIU, and their best matchup seems to be their offense against what can be a pretty stingy WMY defense.

The matchups, and seeing how both teams have played over the year, really set up to be a WMU-dominated first half, with an NIU comeback bid in the second half. The question just really seems to be whether or not NIU can come all the way back, or if they will fall short. The model does slightly lean Western Michigan’s way, but it is essentially a pick’em.

Western Michigan Closest Prior Matchup Score:

21-22

Northern Illinois Closest Prior Matchup Score:

27-26

The CPM scores seem to further show that this game is essentially a toss-up. Both teams project within 1 point, so there really isn’t much else to take away here. This game is essentially a toss-up, with a very slight lean for Northern Illinois to cover.