Toledo loss hurts our chances.

[Falconfreak90]

Good game to watch last night. Neither team played great, but it was entertaining between switching to election coverage.

Dream scenario has NIU losing to UT and EMU and BG wins out including title game. Might not be realistic re: EMU in particular.

Slightly more realistic dream scenario (as in big maybe):

BG wins out 9-2 with wins over Marshall and at Toledo with a red hot offense and lots of Omar induced buzz. Ranked 25th.

NIU wins out including the title game over Marshall. Ranked 23.

NIU goes to the GMAC and hammers Southern Miss.

BG goes to the Motor City over 7-5 Marshall team we just whipped and 8-3 Miami where we roll over Ohio State in front of 68,000.

OK, wake me up. Shoot, we look good in the Silicon Valley and Emerald Bowl too.

Go Falcons!

BINGO!!! NIU probably won't lose the last 2 but ya never know.
We had our chance in Dekalb...didn't get it done. That's how it goes.

We win out and finish 9-2, we go bowling, IMO. Falconfan1, hammering OSU in the MCB would be awesome!

Let's just take care of these last 3 games and see what happens.

It was a good game last night...but there ain't no way Sadkowski is better than Omarvelous. He's good....but Jacobs is better. Omarvelous should be 1st Team All MAC at the rate he's going...and so should the O line!

GO FALCONS!!! only 3 more days til kickoff with WMU!

[kdog27]

I find it silly that nobody around here thinks it possible that NIU could lose to both EMU and UT. NIU has had closes calls in every game this year except a couple. I'm embarrassed to say we were one of them but anyway how can you pencil vistories for a team that needed 2 pt conversion stand against 1-AA team, lost to ISU, beat UCF the worst team in the country by a hair, and needed to go to OT to beat Ball ST another team that is pretty close to the worst. EMU is better that all of those teams except ISU. NIU has been fortunate to come out on top in all of their close conference games. Luck can run out. Until they beat UT I dont count out them losing 2 games. I am ashamed to say that they handled us impressively but this team is not that good... We were just that bad that week

[Warthog]

I find it silly that nobody around here thinks it possible that NIU could lose to both EMU and UT. NIU has had closes calls in every game this year except a couple. I'm embarrassed to say we were one of them but anyway how can you pencil vistories for a team that needed 2 pt conversion stand against 1-AA team, lost to ISU, beat UCF the worst team in the country by a hair, and needed to go to OT to beat Ball ST another team that is pretty close to the worst. EMU is better that all of those teams except ISU. NIU has been fortunate to come out on top in all of their close conference games. Luck can run out. Until they beat UT I dont count out them losing 2 games. I am ashamed to say that they handled us impressively but this team is not that good... We were just that bad that week

I'm with ya kdog. I would not be surprised at all to see Eastern knock of the Huskies. Of course, it may all be irrelevant if Toledo doesn't do their part next Tuesday.

[BGSU33]

Until I see it happen, I have a hard time imagining NIU losing both MAC games against UT and EMU. I'm not saying it can't happen, heck, NIU should have lost to 0-8 UCF and probably to 1-8 Ball State before winning in the closing seconds against UCF and in overtime against BSU. I just think after beating us, they are riding too high and are finding ways after ways to win games. That's what good teams do. I'm just wondering how good is NIU?

NIU looked awesome against us, period. After watching them play BG, I thought to myself, man are they solid. But NIU narrowly escaped against two of the worst teams in the nation in recent weeks, including the win over Ball State which put them in the Top-25 after some teams fell out. Couple that with losses to .500-type teams in Iowa State and Maryland (yeah, I know UMd. beat FSU, but they broke a three-week stretch where they averaged 7 ppg after three loses including two at home), and not to mention having to hang on for dear life after a one-point win over a I-AA SIU (which is #1 in I-AA) after SIU couldn't execute a two-point conversion in the end. They also beat 1-7 WMU, 3-5 CMU and 4-4 Akron. I just don't know how good NIU is...and to be fair.....the same can probably be said about BG and who we've beaten this year. NIU can at least say it's beaten a good BG team, what is our best win this season? EMU? I guess NIU's Top-25 ranking is highlighted by its win over us. And BG will find out what we're made of the last three games too. I'm not trying to take anything way from NIU, they beat us, they're ranked and I'm happy to see a MAC team in the polls. I just find the circumstances a little curious, that's all.

But back to the topic at hand, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Toledo beat NIU. I just have a hard time imagining EMU beating them too. But it could happen and that's why we play the games.

[kdog27]

I have faith yet. I equate this NIU team with the Notre Dame team of 2002 that started the year 8-0. Should the Irish really have been 8-0 that year? No way, they got lucky in several games and played out of their heads in a couple where the opposition was clearly better. It all came crashing down too. Are the Huskies really good enough to be 6-0 in the conference right now? I don't think so. They have been lucky. Yes they beat us but that does not make an entire season. We have faired far better in our nonconference schedule and against MAC opponents. NIU blew it in 2002 when they had UT at home. they can do it again this year and if they can struggle with the likes of UCF, BSU, and SIU they can struggle with EMU too. Sometimes the luck runs out...

[BelieveNBG]

NIU looked awesome against us, period. After watching them play BG, I thought to myself, man are they solid

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This was certainly not what I thought. I left that game thinking about how bad BG played and how we did not play near our potential. After the first drive on offense, we never looked the same again and I didn't think that was due to adjustments by NIU. We had solid D in the first half and we were flat in the second half. We got in the red zone on offense and then had countless penalties. We played conservative and not explosive. We had some terrible calls and our coaches showed no emotion. This is not meant to discredit NIU, but todays BG team would write a different story. Let's not forget that those players had gone through a very emotional week. As much as we downplayed it and didn't use it for an excuse, they had to be emotionally drained. That team did not look remotely like the BG we have come to know in the month of October or even at Oklahoma for that matter.

GO BG!!!

[BGSU33]

I couldn't believe hearing Gregg Brandon talk about how we went into the NIU game "too big" about ourselves. I about hit the floor after I read that. After what happened to us in 2002 at NIU, and seeing NIU picked and predicted to finish in front of us this year, adding to the fact we had to play them in DeKalb, I was stunned we went out there "too big." Having confidence is one thing, I like that we're confident. And maybe we were thinking a little bit too much about what we did to them in 2003. But the bottom line is, they really took it to us in the second half no matter how you look at it. The game was tied at halftime, and then Wolfe ran for over 200 yards - in the second half - and we simply could not stop him. NIU just ran the ball right down our throat, period. I didn't like hearing our coaching staff say we'd wouldn't face an o-line like the won we saw at Oklahoma for the rest of the year, because even Adrian Peterson didn't run wild on us like Garrett Wolf did. NIU's line looked every bit as good or better than OU's line did after watching both games against BG.

[orangeandbrown]

True, we didn't play well against NIU. But give NIU its due. Backup QB, backup RB, and they executed their game plan and took it to us. They made halftime adjustments, and had a better plan on a short week. They kicked our butt, and it wasn't just us.

That I-AA team they barely beat would probably be a top MAC team this year.

Not only do I not think they will lose both their games coming home, I don't think they will lose either. The Rockets are the piece they have never gotten, and they won't lose at home to UT.

We had our chance. Our only goal is to finish 9-2, which will be hard enough, and hope to get a bowl.

[BelieveNBG]

I will never say they kicked our butt. They play'd the better 2nd half, but we are a better team than that game indicated. We were in the middle of a tragic time. Never under estimate the impact of what had occurred only days earlier. Although the fans were not close to the situation, the players were very close.

[Metz]

How many times last night did the announcers say that Bruce had a receiver open downfield but took the 'safe' play along the sideline? I am amazed, this late in the season, that these two teams didn't play better. If Betts would have been throwing the ball better that game wouldn't have been close.

My work colleague and friend couldn't stop laughing at Amstuck waddle along the sides lines.

They actually blew the game by going with those "safe" plays! Brucie Bruce seemed to be throwing to Moore for all those safe plays and forgetting he has other receivers. I know at least 2 or 3 times where they had a guy open in the endzone but when to the slants or quick outs instead.

And Amstuck looked like TV added more than 10 lbs...dang he's huge!