The Northern Illinois Huskies stumbled to a 2-3 start to this season, but now they're looking at the opportunity to close out the season with 11 victories. Currently riding an eight-game winning streak, Northern Illinois faces Arkansas State in the 2012 GoDaddy.com Bowl on Sunday.
Arkansas State may be one of the few schools in the nation with as much momentum as Northern Illinois, though, as the Red Wolves are currently riding their own nine-game winning streak after running the table in the Sun Belt conference. They haven't lost since a Sept. 17 defeat against then-No. 13 Virginia Tech.
One factor that could shake things up is the coaching change in Arkansas State, though, as the Red Wolves are in the midst of replacing Hugh Freeze, who recently took the head coaching gig with Ole Miss, with former Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn.
Game Time, Date: 8:00 p.m. CST, Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012
Location: Ladd-Peebles Stadium, Mobile, Alabama
Television: ESPN
2010 Winner And Loser: Miami (OH) 35, MTSU 21
Head-to-Head History: Northern Illinois leads, 6-1.
For more on Northern Illinois, keep it locked to SB Nation Chicago and our Huskies team blog, Red and Black Attack. For more on Mid-American Conference football, visit Hustle Belt.