By Woodrow Carroll
Last season was a good one for the Northern Illinois University football program. It finish strong and fans likely will remember the team fondly.
Ten games into the 2023 schedule, Northern Illinois was 4-6 and struggling after opening the campaign with a big road victory at Boston College only to falter thereafter.
Needing to win the final two games on the schedule, the Huskies did just that, by beating Western Michigan, 24-0),and Kent State, 37-27, to finish the regular season 6-6 overall to earn a bowl bid.
Better yet, Northern Illinois edged Arkansas State, 21-19, in the Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, Ala. and with that victory over Arkansas State, the Huskies closed out 7-6 overall. The victory over the Red Wolves, the first bowl conquest for NIU since 2011 when the Huskies dispatched a different Arkansas State team, 38-20, in the GoDaddy.com Bowl in Mobile, Ala.. Last season’s bowl victory came after seven consecutive postseason defeats.
Get on the board first and victory is yours! Fall behind and you are done. At least that was the case for Northern Illinois football last season.
In each of Northern’s seven victories a year ago, the Huskies broke on top. All six defeats suffered by the Cardinal and Black in 2023 found the opponent getting on the scoreboard first.
This season, after opening with Western Illinois August 31 at home, the Huskies will play at Notre Dame the following Saturday. Clearly, it is a game that will get NIU a degree of attention. Notre Dame home site, South Bend, Ind. is closer to DeKalb (156 miles distant) than any of Northern Illinois Mid-American Conference foes.
As for Notre Dame football this season, the Fighting Irish have taken a liking to the Mid-American Conference. September. 21, two weeks after going up against Northern Illinois, the Irish will be host to Miami (O.). Although it is safe to say Notre Dame will go into that game with the RedHawks as the favorite, Miami (O.) is deending MAC champion.
The Ara Parseghian Trophy? Parseghian coached Miami (O.) for five seasons in the early 1950s before moving on to Northwestern. Parseghian’s eight campaigns in Evanston at Northwestern caught the attention of Notre Dame. It was in South Bend that Parseghian reached his zenith as as a coach by guiding the teams to National championships in both 1966 and 1973.
Something for NIU fans to think about: There are 134 institutions of higher learning playing at the FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) level this season in which the big names exist. Only two Catholic schools are in the group, Notre Dame and Boston College! Last season Northern Illinois beat Boston College, 27-24, in overtime to open the season. Suffice it to say, a victory over the Fighting Irish this season would be comparable to the Huskies’ 19-16 victory at Alabama in 2003.
The Mid-American Conference has dropped divisional play in favor of the two best Conference teams playing the MAC championship game, December 7, at Ford Field in Detroit. Northern Illinois successful quarterback, Rocky Lombardi, is gone and his replacement will be goal in DeKalb. Lombardi started all 13 games for the Huskies a year ago. Still, there is talent at hand for Northern Illinois head coach, Thomas Hammock.
Senior running back Antario Brown, who led the team in rushing last season with 1,296 yards, is back and a MAC preseason pick for honors. In cornerback JaVaughn Byrd (Sr.), the Huskies have a good one. And on defense, coach Hammock knows he can count on lineman Ray Thomas, among others.
Prior to meeting Notre Dame, the Huskies will be host to Western Illinois August 31 in their season opener, a dangerous game for Northern Illinois. Last season, after knocking off Boston College, the favored Huskies were upset by Southern Illinois at home. The loss to SIU started a four-game losing streak for NIU that almost brought down the curtain on the 2023 football season. The program that was only salvaged when the Huskies won six of their final eight games.