Well, here's how I see the series playing out.
Looking at the metrics, it's clear that NA has performed better thus far this season. And if this was a normal year, and this was just one game, I'd pick NA to win and move on. But we're playing two, so lets continue.
How good is NA? They are 5-3, but they've played 4 cupcakes and were the cupcake in another. So 1-2 against teams of relative ability. Of course, that means they won a D1 game a week ago. We last won a D1 game 13 months ago.
We're 0-4 lifetime against NA. Last years losses were by 19 and 20 points.
We've shown against JU that we don't know how to close out a game. By virtue of winning an OT game against Steteson, NA has shown that they can.
This is only the 2nd road trip of the season for NA. Except for the beatdown at IU, all other games have been at home. And that road trip was a month ago.
So...although I believe NA is the better team, I'm going to ignore the numbers, and predict this we steal a game and split the series.
I'm betting that the 2 teams are "close enough" that a better than expected game from the Owls or a worse than expected game from NA will be enough to pull off an upset. Although I'm not a believer in home court advantage, I'm thinking than perhaps the fact this is only the second road game for NA may affect them slightly.
And if you think I may be trying to talk myself into an Owls win, you may very well be right.
So...1-1 this weekend. But to be honest I wouldn't be surprised if the weekend turns out to be a sweep. By either team (although NA would be more likely).