Orange Bowl predictions

The Orange Bowl matchup of Northern Illinois and Florida State created consternation among the college football establishment when it was announced, as the worthiness of NIU was called into question. TheSportsNotebook has already weighed in, defending the choice of the Huskies to go to Miami tonight. Now let’s get down to the question of what’s going to happen on the football field, and we’ll start by following the path both Northern Illinois and Florida State took to get here, then look at how they match up.