NIU football’s farewell MAC tour includes trophy games against Ball State, Miami

The NIU football team’s farewell tour in the Mid-American Conference will include a pair of trophy games as well as a trip to Toledo.

The schedule released by the MAC on Wednesday has the Huskies facing Miami (Ohio) in their homecoming game Oct. 4, with the winner getting the Mallory Cup. The trophy honors the late Bill Mallory, who coached at Miami and NIU.

Three weeks later the Huskies will host Ball State for the Bronze Stalk.

“Those are always a big deal for our program, and we have the opportunity to play for both trophies; we play both teams that played in the MAC championship [Miami and Ohio] game last year, and we play at Toledo,” NIU coach Thomas Hammock said in a statement. “It’s a very good schedule. I like the balance of the home and away games. We look forward to playing our best football one week at a time.”

NIU football is leaving the MAC in 2026 for the Mountain West Conference, with most of its other programs joining the Horizon League.

The schedule also includes trips to Maryland on Sept. 6 and Mississippi State on Sept. 20. NIU beat the No. 15 Terps 20-13 in overtime at Huskie Stadium in 2003, the highest-ranked team NIU defeated until last year’s 16-14 victory over No. 5 Notre Dame.

NIU hasn’t played Mississippi State or Holy Cross, the team that opens the Huskies' 2025 season Aug. 30 at Huskie Stadium.

The nonconference schedule also includes a Sept. 27 home date against San Diego State, the seventh meeting between the schools.

NIU’s MAC slate opens with the homecoming game, and the weeknight MACtion portion begins Nov. 5 at Toledo. The Huskies also have weeknight games at new league member UMass on Nov. 12 and at home against Western Michigan on Nov. 18. The Huskies' final MAC game is Nov. 28 against Kent State at Huskie Stadium.