Northern Illinois vs. Iowa prediction: College football odds, picks, best bet

Our first ‘Ugly Underdog‘ of the season cashed with ease.Florida State never seemed interested in putting New Mexico State away in Week 0, which made it a pretty sweat-free night for those of us holding a ticket on Aggies +31.5.Not sure what that says about the Seminoles, but that’s a conversation for a different column.Today is about Northern Illinois, perhaps the most in-flux program in FBS.For the second time in its history, Northern Illinois has bolted from the MAC for the bright lights of a conference based out West.From 1993 to 1995, NIU competed in the ill-fated Big West Conference, and 21 years later it has joined the new-look Mountain West, which had to work quickly to replace the five schools, including Boise State, that departed for the back-from-the-dead Pac-12.

The Huskies were one of the headliners in the MAC with five conference titles and seven trips to the championship game since 2011, but they’ll have their work cut out for them in the Mountain West.Only UTEP (110/1) has longer odds than NIU (80/1) to lift the trophy.It will be a challenging season for the Huskies as they get their paws wet in their new environs, especially since long-time head coach Thomas Hammock left his post in February to become the running backs coach with the Seattle Seahawks.The school replaced Hammock with defensive coordinator Rob Harley, who still has the interim tag and has no head coaching experience.Harley’s first opponent just happens to be the longest-tenured coach in FBS, Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz.We may have no idea what to expect from Northern Illinois, but college football fans can set their watch to Ferentz’s Iowa Hawkeyes.

Now in his 28th season in Iowa City, Ferentz’s teams haven’t changed much.You can feel confident that the defense will be good, the special teams will be sharp, and the offense, well, the less said about that, the better.However, we could actually see something a little different in 2026, at least out of the gate.

Eventually, ...