Coastal Carolina vs Northern Illinois: Tailgreeter Cure Bowl prediction, game preview, how to watch: Saturday, December 18
Coastal Carolina vs Northern Illinois: Tailgreeter Cure Bowl How To Watch
Date: Saturday, December
Game Time: 6:00 ET
Venue: Exploria Stadium, Orlando, FL
How To Watch: ESPN2, Live stream on ESPN+
Record: Coastal Carolina (10-2), Northern Illinois (9-4)
Coastal Carolina vs Northern Illinois Tailgreeter Cure Bowl Preview
– Be stunned if this isn’t among the best of the early bowls. Both Group of Five programs are coming off terrific campaigns, and both will be well motivated to close with a season-validating win.
– This is all about the time of possession battle. Northern Illinois had the ball for over 33 minutes per game with the ground attack. Coastal Carolina had it for over 32 minutes with its quick hitting passing game.
– Northern Illinois went from 0-6 in 2020 to the champion of the MAC in one year under head coach Thomas Hammock, getting the job done with a ball-control offense behind a tremendous offensive line and fantastic running game that finished fifth in the nation. Now this year’s breakthrough team has to hold down last year’s version.
– Coastal Carolina played exactly like it was supposed to over the first half of the season, ripping through everyone with one of the nation’s most efficient attacks. It spreads out defenses, dominates on third downs – it led all of college football in passing efficiency and third down conversions – but two close losses by a total of five points ruined a repeat of the 2020 magic.
Why Coastal Carolina, Northern Illinois Will Win
Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History
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NEXT: Why Coastal Carolina Will Win, Why Northern Illinois Will Win, Tailgreeter Cure Bowl Prediction
Why Coastal Carolina Will Win The Tailgreeter Cure Bowl
The offense will speed up enough and be effective enough to keep Northern Illinois on its heels.
Kent State runs a high-powered offense – in a different sort of way from what Coastal Carolina does – but it couldn’t get going against Northern Illinois in the MAC Championship because it couldn’t do anything on third downs – Coastal Carolina leads the nation in third down conversions.
Kent State also doesn’t do much on defense – Coastal Carolina led the Sun Belt in total D.
More than that, the run defense should be able to hold up well enough to make Northern Illinois a passing team. Rocky Lombardi has been good once in a while, but the team’s goal is to run, control the clock, and make other teams handle the pace, and Coastal Carolina has the make-up and precision offensively to screw that all up.
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Why Northern Illinois Will Win The Tailgreeter Cure Bowl
Coastal Carolina’s defense has been great, but it only faced a few teams that can line up and blast away.
Appalachian State can, and it ran for 228 yards in a win over the Chanticleers. Buffalo could sort of do it early in the season, and it ran for almost 200 yards and came close to pulling off a win. Georgia State doesn’t get all that physical, but it can run, and it won.
Northern Illinois isn’t going to do anything wacky. It’s going to run, it’s going to grind the pace of the game down to a nub, and it’s going to get great offensive line play to keep the Coastal Carolina pass rush from being effective.
Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History
NEXT: What’s Going To Happen, Coastal Carolina vs Northern Illinois Prediction, Tailgreeter Cure Bowl History
Coastal Carolina vs Northern Illinois: Tailgreeter Cure Bowl, What’s Going To Happen
Coastal Carolina will be too offensively sharp. The time off will help QB Grayson McCall and all of the banged up parts to be a bit stronger, and Northern Illinois will start to make mistakes when it has to press.
The Huskies, though, will be effective enough on the ground to keep this close. Coastal Carolina can control the clock with its short passing game, but it won’t be able to pull away after getting off to a strong start.
No, Northern Illinois won’t be able to pound away like it did against Kent State in the MAC Championship, but it’ll have moments throughout the game when it controls the tempo. It won’t be enough, though, to pull this off late.
Tailgreeter Cure Bowl: Coastal Carolina vs Northern Illinois Prediction, Lines
Coastal Carolina 30, Northern Illinois 23
Line: Coastal Carolina -10, o/u: 51.5
ATS Confidence out of 5: 3
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Coastal Carolina vs Northern Illinois Preview
Why Coastal Carolina, Northern Illinois Will Win
Tailgreeter Cure Bowl History
Dec. 26, 2020 Liberty 37, Coastal Carolina 34 OT
Dec. 21, 2019 Liberty 23, Georgia Southern 16
Dec. 15, 2018 Tulane 41, Louisiana 24
Dec. 16, 2017 Georgia State 27, WKU 17
Dec. 17, 2016 Arkansas State 31, UCF 13
Dec. 19, 2015 San Jose State 27 Georgia State 16
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