College Football

Northern Illinois vs Buffalo Prediction 9-21-24 College Football Picks

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3m ago

Sep 17, 2024 / 7276 Views

Buffalo Bulls (2-1) vs. NIU Huskies (2-0)
September 21, 2024 3:30 pm EDT
The Line: NIU Huskies -15 / Buffalo Bulls +15; Over/Under: +45
(Get latest betting odds)

The Buffalo Bulls and the Northern Illinois Huskies meet Saturday in college Football action from Huskie Stadium. Here’s an Northern Illinois vs Buffalo Prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best NIU vs Buffalo pick.

Buffalo Bulls Betting Preview

The Bulls’ season kicked off with a matchup versus Lafayette. Buffalo ended up winning that one decisively by a 30-13 margin. The Bulls drew a difficult opponent in Game two versus Missouri and the scoreboard reflected the disparity on a 38-0 blowout defeat.

Back on Saturday versus UMass, the Bulls were only up 10-3 at the break. Buffalo turned it on from there and bagged a 34-3 blowout win in the end. CJ Ogbonna threw for 185 yards and a TD, while Lamar Sperling had 16 carries for 86 yards and a score.

Northern Illinois Huskies Betting Preview

Over on the NIU side, their opener matchup was against Western Illinois. The Huskies scored 28 points in the second quarter alone, rolling right through a 54-15 blowout win. QB Ethan Hampton put up 328 yards and five touchdowns, while Trayvon Rudolph caught four balls for 104 yards and a score.

Game two was against Notre Dame—and it was a thriller. NIU was down 14-13 going into the final quarter and ultimately eked out the victory 16-14. Hampton went 10-of-19 for 198 yards and a score. Antario Brown led the rush on 20 carries for 99 yards.

Northern Illinois vs Buffalo Prediction

I’ll probably lean toward NIU—so long as they don’t suffer the proverbial “big-win hangover.” The Huskies were great on defense against Notre Dame, giving up 286 yards total (163 passing) and allowing only 3-of-10 on third-down conversions. The extra week of rest and practice should help immensely also.

As for the Bulls, last weekend they started pretty slow versus UMass but everything worked out well in the end. The offensive numbers were pretty modest though: 314 total yards (185 passing) and 15 first downs. Buffalo likely won’t be able to move the ball so easily this weekend.