DeKALB, Ill. - The Northern Illinois football Huskies will face four
2009 bowl teams, meet in-state foe Illinois for the first time since
2001, and play host to Mid-American Conference rival Toledo in an ESPN2
nationally-televised game, highlighting the Huskies’ 2010 football
schedule announced Monday by NIU and the league office.
Northern Illinois added MAC East foes Akron, Temple and Buffalo to its
traditional MAC West line-up and a rugged non-conference slate that
includes September road games at Iowa State, Illinois and Minnesota.
Northern Illinois will open the season with a non-Big Ten Conference
opponent for the first time since 2004 when they travel to Ames, Iowa
for a Thursday, Sept. 2 match-up against the Cyclones, the
fourth-meeting all-time between the schools. NIU opens its home
schedule Saturday, Sept. 11 against North Dakota as the Huskies and
Fighting Sioux will play for just the second time ever and the first
time since 1965.
The Huskies will play consecutive road games at Big Ten foes Illinois
(Sept. 18) and Minnesota (Sept. 25), and open their MAC campaign at
Akron (Oct. 2), before contests versus Temple (Oct. 9) and Buffalo (Oct.
16) kick off a string of three straight home games. The homestand
concludes with a match-up versus MAC defending champion Central Michigan
on Oct. 23.
NIU plays at Western Michigan (Oct. 30) to close out October and takes
on Toledo on Tuesday, Nov. 9 in a game that will be televised nationally
on ESPN2, marking the eighth straight season that at least one Huskie
game will be seen on national television. That game will kickoff at 6
p.m. (Central) from Huskie Stadium and mark Northern Illinois’ final
home game of 2010.
Games at Ball State on Saturday, Nov. 20 and Eastern Michigan on
Friday, Nov. 26 - the day after Thanksgiving - close out the 2010
regular season. The EMU game will be seen on either ESPNU or
ESPN360.com.
Northern Illinois head coach Jerry Kill said the Huskies will look
forward to the many challenges presented in the 2010 schedule.
“Scheduling is a difficult process and a lot of things go into it,”
said Kill, who enters his third year at Northern Illinois in 2010. “As
a coaching staff and a team, we play who is on the schedule. You’d
like not to play four of the first five on the road, but we’re looking
forward to the first game at Iowa State and that’s what we’re
concentrating on.
“There’s no question the MAC will be extremely competitive again
in 2010. People like to focus on the non-conference schedule, and those
games in the first month of the season are important and will present a
big challenge for our team, but our goal every year is to win our
league.”
Courtesy of NIU Athletics |
