Week One: Northern Illinois versus Iowa

Iowa vs. Northern Illinois: This is a game between the reigning MAC champions in the Northern Illinois Huskies and the Big Ten's Iowa Hawkeyes. This game is being played in Chicago at Soldier Field and will be broadcasted on ESPNU. Both teams are coming off of bowl games with the Huskies winning the GoDaddy.com Bowl and the Hawkeyes losing in the Insight Bowl to Oklahoma.

Offense: The Iowa Hawkeyes struggled on offense in 2011 ending the season as the 76th ranked offense in the nation with 372 yards of total offense per game last fall. The Hawkeyes could not get their traditional rushing attack going with only 137 rushing yards per game and only 3.9 yards per carry. The Hawkeyes found the end zone 18 times on the ground. The Hawkeyes averaged 27.5 points per game ranking them 58th nationally. The Northern Illinois Huskies' offense was lead by a strong running game led by now graduated quarterback Chandler Harnish. The Huskies ended the season ranked 11th nationally in total offense with a lofty 476 yards per game on the season. The aforementioned rushing game averaged 234 yards per game with 5.5 yards per game on the season. The Huskies scored 34 touchdowns on the ground last fall. The Northern Illinois passing game was very efficient with the Huskies putting up 241 yards per game with 29 touchdowns in the air. The Huskies only threw 6 interceptions on the season. Overall, the Huskies were the 12th ranked scoring offense in the nation last fall with 38.3 points scored per game. EDGE: Northern Illinois

Defense: The Iowa Hawkeyes struggled on defense in 2011 ranking 60th nationally with 378 yards per game allowed on the season. The Hawkeyes were solid at stopping the run with a 3.7 yards per carry allowed average but gave up 156 yards per game and 16 rushing touchdowns on the season. The pass defense gave up 222 yards per game with 21 touchdowns allowed on the year. The Hawkeyes did find a way to intercept 10 passes on the year totaling 19 turnovers forced on the season. Iowa gave up 23.8 points per game making them the 46th best scoring defense in the nation. Northern Illinois was bad on defense in 2011 ranking 88th nationally with 415 yards allowed per game in 2011. The Huskies gave up 167 yards on the ground per game with a 4.0 yards allowed per carry and 23 touchdowns. The pass defense gave up nearly 250 yards per game and 29 touchdowns but were able to come away with 13 interceptions on the season. The Huskies forced 25 overall turnovers on the season. In the end, Northern Illinois was 85th nationally with 30.3 points per game including 6 games of giving up 30 or more points. EDGE: Iowa

Coaching: Kirk Ferentz is the head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes and is entering his 14th season as the head coach of the Hawkeyes. Ferentz started coaching in 1977 at Connecticut before moving to Worcester Academy, Pittsburgh, Iowa, Maine, the Cleveland Browns, the Baltimore Ravens and finally Iowa again. Ferentz was previously a head coach at Maine where he went 12-21 in three seasons. Ferentz is 108-87 in 13 seasons as the Hawkeye head coach with a 6-4 bowl record and 4 top 10 finishes. Dave Doeren is the head coach of the Northern Illinois Huskies and is entering his second year as the head coach. Doeren started coaching in 19995 at Drake before going to USC, Montana, Kansas, and Wisconsin before taking the head coaching job at Northern Illinois. In his one season as head coach, Doeren went 11-3 with a win in the GoDayy.com Bowl. EDGE: Iowa

Northern Illinois and Iowa have met 7 times previously with the Hawkeyes holding a 7-0 overall series record. The last time the two teams met (2007), Iowa won 16-3.

Northern Illinois is being forced to break in a new quarterback after losing record setting Chandler Harnish to graduation and the NFL. This loss may be the single biggest loss of any team in the nation. Harnish was directly accountable for 4324 yards of total offense for the Huskies. Iowa struggled down the stretch last season losing 3 of 4 games to end the season. The Hawkeyes must prove that they can overcome the loss of yet another running back to injury and win a neutral site game versus a tough NIU team.