When Keeton went down, the Aggies eventually turned to a freshman signal caller Darell Garretson. Garretson was able to complete 60% of his passes for 7.3 yards per attempt with nine touchdowns and just five interceptions. The freshman did stretch the field a bit, completing 16.7% of his passes for more than fifteen yards, and was able to convert 42.5% of his third down attempts. He had a big time receiver in Travis Reynolds, a 180 pound player that was well on his way to over 1000 yards before sustaining a knee injury against Colorado State. That injury will likely sideline him for the bowl game. Amongst the rest of the group there isnt a big name, as the team produced just 409 yards the last two games of the year, averaging just 11.3 yards per catch. The run game though is solid, as senior back Joey DeMartino has been able to pick up 5.4 yards per carry and find the endzone twelve times. He broke the century mark in half of the games this season, but has had a down last month averaging better than four yards per carry just once, against Wyoming.
For Northern Illinois, the big question has been can they generate enough through the passing game to make defenses play Jordan Lynch honestly. With Da'Ron Brown missing the conference championship game, the group averaged just 10.4 yards per catch, and just 7.8 and 11.9 the two previous weeks with Brown being hobbled. Tommylee LEwis has been held to three yards fewer per catch this year than in his sophomore campaign, despite already having more catches of 15 yards or more than he did last season. If Brown does not play in the bowl game, Juwan Brescacin is the best deep threat, with his 12 catches of fifteen yards or more. It will likely fall to Jordan Lynch on the ground, a place where he's averaged 6.9 yards per carry and has pounded in 22 touchdowns. Even against a tough Bowling Green defense he was able to find some space to run, picking up 4.9 yards per carry and scoring twice. Through November and December though, the running game has gone through Cameron Stingily The back has been all world as well, rushing for 5.6 yards per carry and breaking the 1000 yard mark. He's converted over half of his third down carries, and averages a healthy 3.6 yards per carry in the redzone.
The Aggies defense will provide a strong foil against the ground attack though for the Huskies. Theyve allowed just 2. 8 yards per carry this season, with no back rushing for over 3.7 yards per carry. Utah State hasnt allowed one hundred yards on the ground since the start of November, as Jake Doughty has recorded a whopping 140 tackles. He has 11.5 tackles for loss, and has also defended three passes. He and LB Zach Vigil have combined for more than 20 stops behind the line of scrimmage against the run; Vigil has also added 116 tackles overall. The pass defense though has been susceptible, allowing a 62% completion rate and defending just 12% of opponents passes. Northern Illinois on the other hand has been adept at stopping the pass, allowing just 53% completion rate and picking off 17 passes. Safety Jimmie Ward has six picks this season, and corner back Marlon Moore has defended 10 passes. They also have been able to recover 11 fumbles this year, leading to a +13 turnover margin
This should be one of the better games of this bowl season, if just to watch whether or not the Huskies can break through the Aggies run defense. If Brown can play, his deep threat should open up some running lanes or Jordan Lynch will make Utah State pay. NIU has been able to keep three and outs down, with just 17.7% of all their drives ending that way, opposed to Utah State's 26.4%. The Huskies should be able to hit enough big plays to keep things interesting, and the defense should be able to get the Freshman to make a few mistakes. Take NIU -1.5.
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