Are The Northern Illinois Huskies BCS Bowl Bound Again?

Led by one of the best senior quarterbacks in the nation, Jordan Lynch, the Northern Illinois Huskies are still undefeated on the season. Reminiscent of last season where they went undefeated and got to play in a BCS Bowl, Northern Illinois should not have trouble with any of the remaining teams on their schedule. How are the Huskies chances at making it to a BCS game in the 2013 season?

In order to go to a BCS game, a team from a conference such as the Mid-Atlantic Conference, the Sun Belt and the Mountain West Conference must win their conference and either finish in the top 12 of the final BCS rankings or finish in the top 16 with no AQ schools ahead of them. Louisville‘s loss to UCF placed them behind Northern Illinois in the BCS rankings, and meant that there was only one non-AQ team ahead of them in the polls.

Going into the game against Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois was ranked No. 18 in the BCS rankings, which was one place behind the MWC’s Fresno State Bulldogs. The Bulldogs nearly lost to the determined San Diego State Aztecs that they luckily defeated in overtime. However, the BCS rankings tend to reflect that kind of “almost loss” to a weaker opponent and adjust accordingly. Therefore, in the next rankings, don’t be surprised if Northern Illinois jumps Fresno State.

The Huskies control their own destiny. With an easy remaining schedule, they shouldn’t stand a chance of losing to any of the lowly MAC teams. However, Lynch and Northern Illinois must continue to blow out opponents, because the Bulldogs are tight on their heels and could easily overtake them in the rankings once again.

Taylor Sturm is an SEC Basketball Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @TSturmRS or add him to your network on Google.