Duke vs. Northern Illinois Bowl Pick
Will the Northern Illinois Huskies cover the point spread as an underdog when they take on the Duke Blue Devils at 5:15 p.m. ET in the Quick Lane Bowl?
WHO ODDSMAKERS LIKE: Duke. According to oddsmakers from online sports book Bovada.lv, the Blue Devils are 5.5-point favorites to knock off the Huskies, who opened as a 2.5-point underdog. The total, meanwhile, hit the board at 48 but has been bet down to 47.
WHO PUBLIC BETTORS LIKE: As of Tuesday morning, 52% of betting tickets are on the Blue Devils to cover the spread and 56% of the money is also on Duke.
INJURY REPORT: Running back Jordan Huff (ankle) is out for the Huskies and quarterback Ryan Graham (elbow) was ruled out for the year back in November. Shane Wimann (foot) and Shawun Lurry (wrist) are also out.
For the Blue Devils, Ben Humphreys (leg) is probable but Austin Parker (disciplinary), Jeremy McDuffie (knee) and Will Taylor (knee) are out.
WHO WE LIKE: Northern Illinois. Quite frankly, I like the quarterback situation better for the Huskies. Marcus Childers was the MAC Freshman of the Year and took over in early October after Ryan Graham suffered an elbow injury in Week 1 and Daniel Santacaterina couldn’t stop turning the ball over. Childers completed 57.3 percent of his passes for 1,440 yards with 15 touchdowns against five interceptions.
Meanwhile, the Blue Devils ranked last in the ACC in passer efficiency rating (110.3) and 12th in scoring offense (25.8 points). I’ll take the points with the better quarterback play and better defense.
The Huskies are 4-0 against the spread in their last four non-conference games, are 4-1 against the number in their last five games coming off a loss, and are 4-1-1 at the betting window in their last six games versus ACC opponents. Meanwhile, the Blue Devils are 2-5-1 against the spread in their last eight games overall.
QUICK LANE BOWL PREDICTION: NORTHERN ILLINOIS HUSKIES +5.5