Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (0-0) vs NIU Huskies (0-0)
Game Info: Saturday, September 4, 2021 at 7:30 pm (Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field)
Betting Odds: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets -18 -- Over/Under: 57.5 Click Here for the Latest Odds
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The Northern Illinois Huskies and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets face off on Saturday in a Week 1 college football showdown at Bobby Dodd Stadium. This is the first time ever that the two teams have faced off.
It couldn’t get much worse for the Northern Illinois Huskies last season as they finished with an 0-6 record. Head coach Thomas Hammock is back for his third year in charge of the Huskies, and there is a lot of pressure on him to perform. The Northern Illinois offense last year wasn’t awful averaging 24.8 points per game, and this year’s offense looks a whole lot different. The big question heading into this game is who will be under center for the Huskies after three quarterbacks left the program. On defense, Northern Illinois gave up almost 39 points per game, and they need the defense to be a whole lot better
On the other side of this game is the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets who finished last year with a 3-7 record. Georgia Tech showed some flashes of becoming a good team under Geoff Collins, but at times they also looked really young and it seemed they were a long way off. Quarterback Jeff Sims last year threw for 1881 yards and 13 touchdowns, but the interceptions were also an issue finishing with 13. He also is a threat with his legs and he finished with 492 yards and six touchdowns. If Sims can cut back on the turnovers this year, that is going to be a big key. The Yellow Jackets defense was an issue giving up 36.8 points per game, but if they gave up more than 21 in this game, that would be a big disappointment.
I expect Simis is going to have a big year off the Huskies' bad defense, and this game is going to get out of hand early. Georgia Tech will run up the core, Northern Illinois won’t keep up, and the Yellow Jackets will cover the spread.