Northern Illinois is no stranger to big-time venues in recent seasons, with games at Iowa, Wisconsin and Arkansas as well as Soldier Field and the Orange Bowl. The stakes will be raised a little higher Saturday, when the Huskies visit top-ranked and defending national champion Ohio State at 104,944-seat Ohio Stadium as 341/2-point underdogs. The Buckeyes are loaded with top NFL prospects and some of the biggest names in college football, including quarterback Cardale Jones, running back Ezekiel Elliott, H-back Braxton Miller and defensive end Joey Bosa. But the NIU players say they won’t be intimidated by the setting or the opponent. “I’m not going to get scared or shy away from it,” tailback Joel Bouagnon said. “You’ve got 100,000 people in front of you, it’s your time to shine.” In fact, the Huskies have won all three of their games against Big Ten teams under third-year coach Rod Carey, winning at Northwestern last season and at Iowa and Purdue in 2013. “It helps us a lot that we’ve been in those kind of situations before, playing in bigger stadiums against bigger schools,” quarterback Drew Hare said. “This week it’s a challenge for us and we know that going into the game, so it should be fun.” Carey is well aware of the task that faces his team. The Buckeyes have the nation’s longest winning streak at 15 games and are 40-3 since Urban Meyer took over as coach in 2012. “They’re big, they’re physical, they’re strong, they’re well-coached, they don’t beat themselves and they’re expecting to win,” Carey said. Meyer returned the compliments, calling NIU “a Big Ten-quality” team. “They’ve won (at least) 11 games for the past five years,” he said…
Continue Reading: Northern Illinois players say they’re unfazed by trip to Ohio State
