Last season Coach Rod Carey took Northern Illinois to a 11-3 record and 7-1 in the MAC conference with a loss in the Boca Raton Bowl. The game against Ohio State this Saturday starts at 3:30pm in Ohio Stadium (ABC/ESPN2). Starting quarterback Drew Hare hopes to continue his duel threat accomplishments after completing last season will 900 yards rushing, 2300 yards passing and 18 scores. And this year he has two freshman running backs adding to the fire in Marcus Jones and DJ Brown.

On defense Northern Illinois has a number of good players returning including linebacker Rasheen Lemon (90 tackles), safety Marlon Moore (99 tackles), and Paris Logan (77 tackles, 3 interceptions). Eight players total returned on defense for the Huskies. They allow a good number of third down conversions but had the best turn-over ratio in the MAC last year.

For some reason the NIU team is picked to finish third in their division this year, even after coming out on top with almost the same team last season. They beat Murray State last week 57-26 at home.