Independence Bowl Tickets

The Northern Illinois Huskies and the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs will face off in the PetroSun Independence Bowl on December 28 at 8 p.m. in Shreveport, La.

It was a solid season for Northern Illinois, which played Minnesota tough and suffered mostly close losses. They ended their season on a down note, being shut out by Navy, 16-0.

Louisiana Tech won one more game than the Huskies and managed a season-opening victory over Mississippi State. However, the team was not close in upset bids against Kansas and Boise State.

When it came to playing major conference teams, it seemed that Northern Illinois was able to hang tough and keep its composure much better than Louisiana Tech. That could be a factor in this game.

The Bulldogs finished strong, winning four straight contests before a tough, four-point loss to Nevada in the final game of the regular season.

Both of these teams like to run the football and are not very explosive in the passing game, so this could be a low-scoring affair.

Prediction: Northern Illinois 16, Louisiana Tech 13