(CBS) Of the three Division-I football programs in Illinois, only one has an SEC opponent on its schedule this season – or for any upcoming seasons.
And it’s not either of the football programs that play in the Big Ten.
Rather, it’s Northern Illinois.
But that might not happen again for NIU if the SEC has its way (and it usually does), which is why the Huskies should go beyond simply pursuing big-time conference foes and actually start pursuing a big-time conference membership.
In light of
college
football’s dynamics tilting ever more toward the power conferences, it only makes sense.
Over the past four seasons, NIU has gone 46-10, won two MAC championships, won four division championships and gone to an Orange Bowl, cementing itself as one of the premier mid-major football programs in America. Over that time, the Huskies have also established themselves as not only the Land of Lincoln’s best pigskin program but also its most aggressive when it comes to scheduling non-conference heavyweights.
This coming fall, for example, NIU will travel to SEC turf with a
game
at Arkansas, never mind that the Razorbacks are coming off a poor season. In 2015, the Huskies will road trip to Big Ten powerhouse Ohio State. Between 2017 and 2023, they’ll travel to Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium four times. And in 2018 and 2020, NIU will play games at Iowa.
For years, the Huskies have behaved like a program willing to take on all comers, even if those foes will no longer come to DeKalb. Since 2008, NIU has beaten major-conference opponents Iowa, Purdue (twice), Kansas and Minnesota. On Sept. 20, the Huskies should have a decent chance of beating Arkansas, their first SEC foe since 2008, when they lost 13-9 to Tennessee in Knoxville.
