Northern Illinois Closes Out Season With a Victory, End Up 5-7

Last night, the Northern Illinois University (NIU) football team ended its season at 5-7 with a 17-14 victory over Mid-American Conference division rival Western Michigan.  This was Thomas Hammock's first year as head coach.

It was also the first year I didn't even make it out to Huskie Stadium for even one of the five home games played there.

A few days ago I wrote in this blog about how often it is better for first year coaches not to have too good of a record and this fits the case.  Shoot, even our best ever coach, Joe Novak, had about as bad a record as you could have in his first three years at Northern.  In 1996, he was 1-10, 1997  0-11, and 1998 2-9.

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NIU 2019 GAMES:

NIU 24 Illinois State  10
Utah  35  NIU 17
Nebraska  44  NIU 8
Vanderbilt 24  NIU 18

Ball State  27  NIU 20
NIU 39  Ohio 36
Miami (Ohio)  27  NIU 24
NIU  49  Akron 0

Central Michigan 48  NIU 10
NIU 31  Toledo  28
Eastern Michigan  45  NIU 17
NIU 17  Western Michigan  14

Of course, our all-time nemesis and rival is Toledo, and at least we beat them.

But, even better, NIU is not bowl eligible, which is alright with me as we usually get blown out pretty bad in those games.

Looking Forward to 2020.  --RoadHuskie

DID YOU KNOW:  An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.