NIU Football

The NIU offense scored on five straight drives after Santana Banner had an interception on a fake punt. Two plays after Cam Thompson's 91-yard kickoff return for a TD, the NIU defense had another pick. Big plays led to more big plays in a win over Western Michigan.

The NIU football team snapped a two-game losing streak on Wednesday with a win at Western Michigan. Here's a look at five of the key moments.

The struggling NIU football team heads to Kalamazoo on Wednesday to face MAC-leading Western Michigan. The Broncos (5-3, 4-0) are the only undefeated team last standing in the MAC and have won four straight games, including 52-21 against Kent State last time out on Oct. 26.

A dropped 2-point conversion. Too much celebration. An uncharacteristic defensive showing. There were a lot of reasons NIU dropped a second-straight heartbreaker in MAC player. Here's what coach Thomas Hammock and the players said was costly.

Ball State hit a 52-yard field in the closing seconds, negating an NIU field goal seconds earlier in a wild ending in Muncie. The Huskies fell 25-23.

Ball State has won the Bronze Stalk game in four of the five seasons Thomas Hammock has been NIU's head coach. Here's why he and his players think it will be different this time.

The math doesn't add up. NIU had 391 yards of total offense. The Huskies ran 92 total plays. They didn’t turn the ball over. And they scored six points and lost 13-6 to Toledo, falling to 4-3 overall and 1-2 in the Mid-American Conference.

Despite almost 400 yards of total offense, the NIU football team couldn't find the end zone and lost at home to Toledo 13-6 on homecoming.

The Rockets are coming off a 30-15 loss at Buffalo while the NIU Huskies won 17-7 at Bowling Green. Kickoff is 2:30 p.m. Saturday on ESPN+. Here are three things to know about the game.

Josh Holst had a big play for a tide-turning touchdown. Skyler Gill-Howard had too many tide-turning defensive plays to list here. And the NIU football team had a tide-turning win to climb out of the MAC cellar.

NIU trailed in the fourth quarter, but pulled out a victory Saturday at Bowling Green, moving to 1-1 in the MAC behind a stifling defensive performance.

What happens if Antario Brown isn't available? Will the offense stop turning the ball over? What's the defense's reaction to being the second-best team nationally on third-down defense? We look at three key storylines heading into Saturday's NIU game against Bowling Green.

Antario Brown went down with an injury in the second quarter, with Gavin Williams and Jaylen Poe taking over the NIU ground attack. And after trailing by six at halftime with 118 yards on the ground, the Huskies pulled out a 34-20 win behind 249 second-half rushing yards.

After a lightning-fast start to the game that put the Huskies up seven after 50 seconds when they didn't even start with the ball, NIU faded later in the first half against UMass. But in the second half, the team found some consistency and came back for a win.

NIU held its last two opponents to under 200 yards of offense. The Huskies lost both games thanks to six total turnovers. They’ll search for their first win since beating No. 5 Notre Dame when they take on UMass (1-4). The game kicks off at 11 a.m. on CBS Sports Net.

NIU joining the Mountain West for football may just be a bunch of rumors and may never materialize. But it seems like there's a lot that makes sense and could benefit more sports than just football.

NC State threw a steady stream of pressure at quarterback Ethan Hampton — enough, in fact, to knock Northern Illinois back to .500.

The NIU offense struggled and turnovers led directly to two NC State touchdowns as the Huskies lost their second straight game, 24-17 to the Wolfpack.

The Mountain West Conference has notified the MAC of its interest in NIU and Toledo in joining the league as football-only members, according to Brett McMurphy of Action Network in a social media post on Thursday night.

NIU coach Thomas Hammock had a very important message for his players after losing to Buffalo. That, facing a former coach and forcing turnovers are three big storylines heading into Saturday's game at NC State.

NIU coach Thomas Hammock told his players during the week the only way they would lose to Buffalo on Saturday was if they lost the turnover battle. They lost the turnover battle 2-1, and the No. 23 Huskies lost to the Bulls 23-20 in overtime.

After leading most of the game, the NIU football team fell 23-20 to Buffalo in overtime in front of 18,688 fans at Huskie Stadium – its first game since beating Notre Dame and reaching No. 23 in The Associated Press poll.

The No. 23 Northern Illinois football team faces Buffalo in Mid-American Conference play on Saturday. Daily Chronicle sports editor Eddie Carifio will have live updates from the game

The Jersey Mike’s logo will appear on Brigham Field at Huskie Stadium starting with Saturday’s NIU football game against Buffalo and throughout the 2024 season.

NIU plays its first game since winning at Notre Dame, comes into the contest ranked high nationally in multiple offensive categories and hopes the win over the Irish will equal a larger home crowd. Here's what to know.

Northern Illinois football moved up two spots in the latest Associated Press top 25 college football rankings, and remained in the AP’s latest College Football Playoff bracket watch

The City of DeKalb has declared Sept. 7 NIU Football Day, after Mayor Cohen Barnes issued a proclamation this week in support following an historic win by the NIU Huskies over Notre Dame.

Plainfield North grad Kanon Woodill's field goal with 31 seconds was big in NIU's upset of Notre Dame, but special teams as a whole had a strong day. Cade Haberman blocked two kicks in the win.

The bye week came at the perfect time for the NIU football team, giving the Huskies time to recover from a 16-14 victory over No. 5 Notre Dame. The Huskies met with local media on Tuesday.

There was no shortage of explosive and other high-profile plays in NIU's 16-14 upset of Notre Dame on Saturday. But here are five plays that may have flown under the radar that were still essential in the Huskies' win

After winning at Notre Dame on Saturday, The Associated Press included NIU in its latest College Football Playoff bracket projection, released Monday morning

After making national headlines in defeating No. 5 Notre Dame on Saturday, the Northern Illinois football team is ranked in The Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since 2013

After a Notre Dame touchdown and a scary kickoff that left NIU starting its first drive at its own 2-yard line, things could have gone very bad, very quickly for the Huskies. Antario Brown made sure everyone knew it was game on.

NIU upset Notre Dame 16-14 on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024 at Notre Dame Stadium.

An Amariyun Knighten interception in the fourth quarter set up NIU’s winning score as the Huskies stunned No. 5 Notre Dame. Here are five takeaways from the win.

The Northern Illinois Huskies face Notre Dame for the first time ever on Saturday. Daily Chronicle sports editor Eddie Carifio will have live updates, scores and news from the game.

The NIU football team heads to South Bend, Indiana on Saturday to face Notre Dame for the first time in program history. The Irish enter the game ranked fifth in the latest AP poll after a 23-13 win at Texas A&M, while the Huskies are off a 54-15 home win against Western Illinois

NIU hall of famer Rick Cerrone writes that the Huskies' game at Notre Dame on Saturday is the culmination of a decades-long dream, and seeing his alma mater at that stadium will be “the most beautiful sight these eyes have ever seen.”

In his first game as the everyday starter, Aurora Christian grad Ethan Hampton set an NIU passing efficiency record with a 300-plus yard performance as the Huskies beat Western 54-15.

The NIU football team opened its season with a convincing win against Western Illinois. Here are five takeaways from the victory.

The Northern Illinois University Huskie football team met Western Illinois Saturday afternoon at Huskie Stadium at NIU in DeKalb.

Northern Illinois opens the season against Western Illinois, an FCS school that hasn't won a game in almost three years. Here are three things to know about the Huskies heading into the contest.

Here's a look at the schedules for all seven high school athletic programs and NIU football for this week.

Former Northern Illinois University and current Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Rocky Lombardi made his NFL debut Saturday at Soldier Field in Chicago. Lombardi entered the game in the second half of a 27-3 loss to the Chicago Bears. Lombardi is competing for a roster spot with the Bengals.

The NIU football team held its 16th practice of the fall on Saturday, a scrimmage that was also the third and final open practice the team has scheduled. With the season starting in two weeks against Western Illinois, here is what to expect - and what not to expect - from the Hus

Former Northern Illinois quarterback Rocky Lombardi is expected to make his NFL debut with the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday when they play the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field in a preseason game.

Through fall drills this year ahead of NIU's opener on Aug. 31 against Western Illinois, Justin Lynch hasn’t been strictly lining up at halfback. He’s been at fullback. He’s been split out wide. And the former Mount Carmel standout quarterback said he’s loving it.

Based on the two open NIU practices so far this fall, we look at a trio of players that may be flying under the radar but have had some big plays - Justin Lynch, Mark Hensley and Cam Thompson.

After a high-energy end to practice that include a moment coach Thomas Hammock said he hadn't seen in 22 years around college football, he and his players said energy will help the team avoid losing streaks like last year.

Muhammed Jammeh, Jalen Macon and Antario Brown among the Huskies who made big plays Tuesday's in the team's first fully open practice.