Northern Illinois vs Fresno State Odds & Pick: No Keene, Fresno Still The Play

The Fresno State Bulldogs (6-6) fly up to Boise for a matchup against the Northern Illinois Huskies (7-5) in the Potato Bowl. Northern opened as a -2 point favorite and the line has ticked up to -3 at bet365. The Over/Under total opened at 42.5 and has dropped a few ticks down to 40.5. 

We went back over a decade and after looking very carefully, we can tell you that these teams have not met in over 10 years.

Northern Illinois vs Fresno State Odds

Northern Illinois vs Fresno State, Dec. 23, 2:30 pm ET

Odds as of Dec. 19 at bet365

Northern Illinois vs Fresno State Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Pick

Fresno State +3 (-115) at bet365

If you watched Northern Illinois in the first two weeks of the season, you were probably thinking about a shot at the MAC title and maybe even a spot in the College Football Playoffs. Northern Illinois stormed out the starting gate with a 54-15 blowout against Western Illinois, then traveled to South Bend and pulled off a STUNNING 16-14 upset against Notre Dame as a GINORMOUS 28 point underdog.

The Huskies get a week off to celebrate the win against the Irish and play host to Buffalo. Northern is a -12 point favorite and another W is just 60 minutes away, right? NOPE. They lose to the Buffs 23-20 then went to NC State and came up on the short end of a 24-17 score. Northern bounces back with wins over a lousy UMass team and an average Bowling Green squad. Consistency has not been their friend.

You know we love to look at the 'what have you done for me lately' category, and if you're banking on Northern because they won three of their last four, DON'T. Lemme tell you why. They beat two uglies with 4-8 records, Western Michigan and Akron, then posted a W against another average MAC team with a 6-6 record, Western Michigan. The only game that the Huskies played against a team with a winning record, Miami-Ohio (8-5), turned into a 20-9 loss. 

Fresno comes in on the heels of a 20-13 loss to UCLA, and even though the Bruins were only 5-7 this season, we would rate that as a 'good' loss. Why? UCLA played a monster schedule and they are 12 points higher on Jeff Sagarin's Power Ratings at USA Today than Northern. 

QB Mikey Keene leads the charge for the Bulldogs and he has a pretty solid year in the air. Keene is hitting at a ridiculous 70.5%, has gobbled up 2,892 yards with 18 TDs and 11 INTs. If Mikey plays a clean game, then Fresno should be the king of potatoes. OOPS! Just heard Mikey is OUT! 

Since Northern has covered 1-5-1 as a favorite this season and has a shocking 3-15-1 record as a fav since 2022, we were gonna go to the pound and jump on the Bulldogs, but no Mikey, then you gotta scale back, WAY back! 

Northern Illinois vs Fresno State Betting Trends