The 2010 Humanitarian Bowl, this time sponsored by uDrove, will be a December 18, 2010 college bowl game between the 10-3 Northern Illinois Huskies from the MAC and the 8-4 Fresno State Bulldogs from the WAC. Humanitarian Bowl tickets promise to be among the best of the opening day bowl games, featuring the MAC West division champions and the fourth place team out of the WAC.
The Northern Illinois Huskies not only have to overcome perceptions of weakness because of the relative national lack of knowledge about the conference in which they play, but they also have to play through the emotional reactions to the recent news that their head coach Jerry Kill will be leaving early to take over the football program at the University of Minnesota.
The assorted remaining coaches and the Northern Illinois Huskies team still intend to put on a show for the early college bowl game national audience. This is a team that averages the seventh most rushing yards a game in the Division I with 264.8 yards a game, scores the 13th most points with 37.8 a game, and allows the 16th fewest points a game at 19.1. This is college football team that flirted with the polls, but ultimately fell short. Yet, they are prepared to go to the Humanitarian Bowl behind running back Chad Spann (243 carries, 1,293 yards, 20 TD) and quarterback Chandler Harnish (passing: 172/266, 2,230, 20 TD, 5 Int; rushing: 127 carries, 764 yards, and 5 touchdowns). Fans surely want Northern Illinois tickets to see this team play in Boise, ID at Bronco Stadium, if not for emotional support, to see if this team still has the talent and composure to make a run for a fourth straight bowl appearance next season.
Fresno State is coming into the Humanitarian Bowl with significantly less baggage. This Pat Hill coached team is a scoring machine, putting up an impressive 30 points a game while playing in the WAC. They are also coming off a big win against Illinois, a Big Ten opponent bound for a bowl game. In fact, the Bulldogs have strung together two wins following an embarrassing loss to then #4 Boise State and a close loss to then #21 Nevada.
If there is anything that worries the fans traveling to Boise with Fresno State tickets it is the Bulldogs scoring defense, which allows 29.2 points a game. This December 18, 2010 Humanitarian Bowl could be the making of a record setting game. The Huskies and Bulldogs are great at finding the endzone, and the Huskies are playing with an emotional monster lurking on their shoulder.
