Northern Illinois

0-8

Program prestige

Zeitgeist statureRegional Program IV#162 all-time– holding

Stature and coaches, 1968–2026

The program’s standing over time, with every coach’s tenure beneath it — read down to see who was there for each rise and fall.

Northern Illinois is Regional Program today. Never reached Dynasty tier; National Program is its high, most recently in 2016.

1968: Regional Program1969: Regional Program1970: Regional Program1971: Regional Program1972: Regional Program1973: Regional Program1974: Regional Program1975: Regional Program1976: Regional Program1977: Regional Program1978: Regional Program1979: Regional Program1980: Regional Program1981: Regional Program1982: Regional Program1983: Regional Program1984: Regional Program1985: Regional Program1986: Regional Program1987: Regional Program1988: Regional Program1989: Regional Program1990: Regional Program1991: Regional Program1992: Regional Program1993: Regional Program1994: Regional Program1995: Regional Program1996: Regional Program1997: Regional Program1998: Regional Program1999: Regional Program2000: Regional Program2001: Regional Program2002: Regional Program2003: Regional Program2004: Regional Program2005: Regional Program2006: Regional Program2007: Regional Program2008: Regional Program2009: Regional Program2010: Regional Program2011: National Program2012: National Program2013: National Program2014: National Program2015: National Program2016: National Program2017: Regional Program2018: Regional Program2019: Regional Program2020: Regional Program2021: Regional Program2022: Regional Program2023: Regional Program2024: Regional Program2025: Regional Program2026: Regional Program198020002020
DynastyBlue BloodPower ProgramNational ProgramRegional Program

Run↔pass identity, by season

No play-by-play coverage before 2004more passmore run200420062008201020122014201620182020202220242026

Every coach, tenure by tenure, on the coaching page →

Program outlook

Program outlook

Northern Illinois walked into South Bend as a 28-point underdog in 2024 and beat No. 5 Notre Dame 16-14 — the program's first win over a top-10 team, ever. Then it went 3-9. Now it's in a new conference. The Huskies carry all of that into the Mountain West.

Since Jun 14: L 7-28 vs Air Force; L 23-41 at Wyoming; L 21-56 vs Hawai'i; L 24-31 at UNLV. 0-8 this season.

Read the full essay — 3 more paragraphs

The 2012 season is the foundational text. A MAC team from DeKalb went 12-1, won the conference, and earned an Orange Bowl bid — forcing the BCS, college football's most aggressively guarded closed system, to seat a mid-major at the table. Jordan Lynch ran the triple option to a Heisman-finalist finish in 2013, the highest any MAC player has ever placed in the voting. Two more MAC titles followed in 2018 and 2021. Northern Illinois built its identity on one recurring proof: any given Saturday, against any opponent, DeKalb can beat you. The Notre Dame win in 2024 — as a four-touchdown underdog, in South Bend — was the latest data point in that argument.

The problem is what came after. The 2024 season that contained that upset ended 8-5. The 2025 season ended 3-9 (2-6 MAC), Thomas Hammock's seventh and final MAC campaign before the program's departure to the Mountain West as a football-only member in 2026. The Huskies are leaving the MAC having proven they can beat anybody once and having not yet proven they can sustain anything. The internal fracture between the giant-killer romanticism and the build-a-floor pragmatism has never been sharper.

The Mountain West move is the 2026 story. NIU enters a new conference without the comfort of a decade of MAC relationships, competing against programs with deeper resources on the West Coast and in the Mountain time zone. Hammock, an alum, carries the 'Forward, Together Forward' identity into the new league. The question the season will answer is whether the Huskies can translate their upset-pedigree program into conference wins against opponents who have never heard of DeKalb — and whether the scalps in the record book eventually become a pattern.

On the field

Physical, opportunistic, and built around the upset-frame — Northern Illinois has never been the most talented team in any building it walks into, and the program's coaching philosophy reflects that. Hammock runs a pro-style base offense with a mobile quarterback option, and the defense is the program's identity unit: assignment-sound, gap-disciplined, designed to hold games close and force the opponent into the error that decides it. The 'Forward, Together Forward' motto, adopted after the 2008 campus shooting, runs deeper than football — it is the institutional DNA of a program that has treated persistence as a value.

Program outlook · as of Jun 14, 2026

Northern Illinois has won 47% of its games since 1966 — 58% at home, 38% on the road.

324-360-4 all-time · 61 seasons · 1966–2026

Home 182-130-2
Away 130-214-2
Neutral 12-16
20% 1960s
39% 1970s
51% 1980s
29% 1990s
56% 2000s
67% 2010s
38% 2020s
The era · 2014 through 2026

The CFP era

13 seasons inside the CFP era, no bids yet — the era the program is still trying to break into.

Era record 75-82 13 seasons
Best season 11-3 2014
Trajectory · quality-score line · AP rank dotted · CFP bids marked · coach regimes ribboned
Program quality AP rank (inverted) CFP appearance
'14'16'18'20'22'24Now

Swipe left for earlier seasons

Chapters · 13 seasons · tap to open the archive
'14 11-3 '15 8-6 '16 5-7 '17 8-5 '18 8-6 '19 5-7 '20 — '21 9-5 '22 3-9 '23 7-6 '24 8-5 '25 3-9 '26 0-8

Northern Illinois’s 2014–2026 record is 75-82.

Era win %
.477
Ranked seasons (AP)
1/13
Best AP finish
#23

Northern Illinois and Ball State, meeting by meeting

The series is level at 24-24-1 (since 1968); in the last 10 meetings, Northern Illinois is 5-5

evenNorthern Illinois aheadBall State ahead198020002020

2025: Northern Illinois won 21-7. After this game, level at 24-24-1.

Last 25 meetings: ▲ Northern Illinois won, ▼ Ball State won, by how much

2001: Northern Illinois won 33-292002: Northern Illinois won 41-292003: Northern Illinois won 48-232004: Northern Illinois won 38-312005: Ball State won 31-172006: Northern Illinois won 40-282007: Ball State won 27-212008: Ball State won 45-142009: Northern Illinois won 26-202010: Northern Illinois won 59-212011: Northern Illinois won 41-382012: Northern Illinois won 35-232013: Northern Illinois won 48-272014: Northern Illinois won 35-212015: Northern Illinois won 59-412016: Northern Illinois won 31-242017: Northern Illinois won 63-172018: Northern Illinois won 24-162019: Ball State won 27-202020: Ball State won 31-252021: Northern Illinois won 30-292022: Ball State won 44-382023: Ball State won 20-172024: Ball State won 25-232025: Northern Illinois won 21-72017: by 4620012025

Each step is one meeting: up when Northern Illinois wins, down when Ball State wins, flat for a tie. Counts every game in our records since 1968. Tap the line for any season.

Moments in Northern Illinois history

What this program never forgets

Most weeks vanish. These didn’t.

2008

Forward, Together Forward

The post-tragedy motto adopted after the 2008 campus shooting — the institution's enduring identity

Wound

The 2012 Orange Bowl bid

A 12-1 MAC champion crashed the BCS — the mid-major breakthrough

2024

Upset of No. 5 Notre Dame

NIU 16, Notre Dame 14 in South Bend as a 28-point underdog — the program's first win over a top-10 team

Moment of the year · 2026

Lost 0-40 at Iowa

Week 1 of 2026. A reckoning loss — the data point the next season must answer.

Decisive marginvs AP #22

More in this tab

Ladder finishHow far up the ladder this season got.

Season standing · 2026 · 0-8

Northern Illinois is 0-8 — below .500 in FBS.

Below .500 in FBS play. The rebuild bar.

Sub-FBSBuildingBowlRankedContenderPlayoff
ConferenceWhere this team sits in this season's conference standings.

Mountain West standing · 2026

9th in the Mountain West

Northern Illinois is 9th of 10 in the Mountain West at 0-4. The path to the title is steep — the focus is on bowl access and rivalry wins.

#ProgramRecord
1New Mexico4-0
2Wyoming4-1
3North Dakota State4-2
4UNLV3-1
5Air Force3-2
6Nevada2-2
7San José State2-3
8Hawai'i1-4
9Northern Illinois0-4
10UTEP0-4
Coaching historyCurrent head coach Thomas Hammock, hired 2019

Coaching history

  • Hired Rob Harley (interim)2026
  • Thomas Hammock departs35-47, 7 seasons
  • Hired Thomas Hammock2019
  • Rod Carey departs52-30, 7 seasons
  • Hired Rod Carey2012
  • Dave Doeren departs23-4, 2 seasons
  • Hired Dave Doeren2011
  • Jerry Kill departs23-16, 3 seasons
Coordinator lineageOffense and defense under each coordinator.

Northern Illinois’s offense and defense, by coordinator

FBS-relative efficiency percentile per season (2014–2026), same population as the Coordinator Mirror board. Dashed vertical lines mark a coordinator change.

Offense2014–2026
2014201620182020202220242026
2014–2015 · Bob Cole2016–2018 · Mike Uremovich2019–2023 · Eric Eidsness2024 · Wesley Beschorner2025 · Quinn Sanders2026 · Tony Petersen (co)
Defense2014–2026
2014201620182020202220242026
2014–2015 · Jay Niemann2016–2017 · Kevin Kane2018 · Jeff Knowles2019–2021 · Derrick Jackson2022–2023 · Derrick Jackson / Nick Benedetto (co)2024 · Nick Benedetto2025 · Rob Harley2026 · D. J. Bland
Elite (≥70th pct)AveragePoor (≤30th pct)
Gameday customsThe gameday customs unique to this program.

Rituals

Three gameday rituals — the ones outsiders never quite catch.

2012 Orange Bowl Run

since 2012

more

NIU became the first MAC program to make a BCS bowl game in 2012 — 12-1 regular season + MAC championship + Orange Bowl invitation. The Orange Bowl loss (Florida State 31-10) didn't dim the achievement; the MAC-to-Orange-Bowl ascent broke a structural CFB ceiling. The 2012 run is permanent G5 ascent canon.

Jordan Lynch Heisman Finalist 2013

since 2013

more

Jordan Lynch's 2013 12-2 + MAC championship + Heisman finalist (3rd in voting, the highest finish ever by a MAC player) + multiple NCAA QB rushing records made Lynch one of the most-iconic G5 players of the BCS era. The Lynch era continued the 2012 Orange Bowl momentum + cemented NIU as G5 powerhouse.

Forward, Together Forward

since 2008

more

'Forward, Together Forward' — the program's defiance-rooted mantra — emerged after the 2008 NIU campus shooting tragedy + the program's role in community healing. The phrase captures both the football trajectory + the institutional resilience. Used in tweets + recruiting + alumni events.

Cultural identityWhat college football loses if this program didn't exist.
BowlsLast 5 bowls 2-3, 6-10 since 1983

Recent postseason (1983-2024): 6-10

Most recent: 2024 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl — win 20-28. Last 5 postseason: 2-3.

2024 W2023 W2021 L2018 L2017 L
Reddit blowupsThe plays that blew up on r/CFB.

r/CFB moments

368
[Postgame Thread] Northern Illinois Defeats Buffalo 33-27 (OT)
Nov 2021 · r/CFB
247
[Postgame Thread] Northern Illinois Defeats UMass 45-3
Nov 2025 · r/CFB
232
[Postgame Thread] Southern Illinois Defeats Northern Illinois 14-11
Sep 2023 · r/CFB

All-time top community posts

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