NIU football: Huskies unveil nonconference schedule, MAC opponents

NIU head coach Thomas Hammock, left, talks to a Miami of Ohio coach after the game on Wednesday Nov 16th at huskies Stadium in DeKalb.

The Northern Illinois University football team will make nonconference trips to Boston and Lincoln, Nebraska, in 2023 and play a six-game home schedule beginning Sept. 9 versus Southern Illinois, as NIU announced its 2023 nonconference slate Thursday.

The school also released the sites of its eight Mid-American Conference games, although those dates will be announced later.

“Every year there is great balance with the schedule,” said NIU head coach Thomas Hammock, who enters his fifth season at the helm of the Huskies’ program in 2023. “Opening the season with Boston College, an ACC opponent, gives us a great opportunity to see where we are, similar to opening at Georgia Tech a few years ago. Then we come back home to face a quality opponent in Southern Illinois, and you have Nebraska and Tulsa who are both going into this season with new coaching staffs.”

NIU will open the 2023 season Sept. 2 at Boston College in the fourth meeting between the teams. The Eagles have won the previous three games, including three-point wins in 2015 in Chestnut Hill (17-14) and in 2017 in Huskie Stadium (23-20).

The Huskies welcome the Salukis to DeKalb on Sept. 9 for the first time since 2007 as the teams will play for the 44th time. On Sept. 16, NIU will make its fifth trip to Memorial Stadium to face Nebraska. The Huskies earned a “Boneyard Victory” over the Cornhuskers in 2017 in their only win in the series.

The Huskies close out nonconference play Sept. 23 when Tulsa comes to DeKalb to complete the home-and-home series that began in 2022 with the Golden Hurricane taking a 38-35 win in Oklahoma.

“Overall we’ll get a great gauge of where we are as a team with the nonconference schedule,” Hammock said. “It’s a great test across the board from a physical standpoint, from a mental standpoint, from a preparation standpoint to go into conference play. We know the MAC is always going to be competitive every week. It doesn’t matter which teams you play from the East Division, every game is a battle, and we know that is true of the teams we see every year from the West.”

NIU will face MAC East foe Ohio, along with Ball State, Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan at home. The Huskies will travel to Central Michigan and Toledo and play crossover games at Kent State and Akron. NIU lost to Ohio and Akron last year and split a pair of games with Kent State in 2021, including a 41-23 win in the MAC Championship game.

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