Football | October 22

DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University football team returns home Saturday for a 2:30 p.m. game on ESPN+ against Ball State after back-to-back weekends on the road.
 
Tickets for all remaining NIU home football games are on sale now. Purchase tickets for the 2025 NIU Football season anytime online at NIUHuskies.com/tickets. For more information, call the NIU Ticket Office at 815-753-PACK (7225) weekdays between 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. or email huskiestickets@niu.edu.
 
Saturday's game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and locally on 94-9 WDKB.
 
Last weekend, NIU (1-6, 0-3 MAC) scored a season-high 21 points at Ohio in a 48-21 loss. Redshirt-Sophomore quarterback Josh Holst (Marengo, Ill./ Marengo Community) threw for two passing touchdowns on 21-of-29 attempts, becoming the fourth NIU player since 2015 to record multiple passing touchdowns while completing at least 70 percent of his passes in a single game.
 
Junior DeAree Rogers (Lexington, S.C./Lenoir-Rhyne) recorded a season-high 107 receiving yards and a touchdown on seven catches last week against the Bobcats. Rogers scored on a 50-yard reception, the longest passing play for the Huskies this season. He is fourth in the Mid-American Conference in receptions with 5.0 per game.
 
Defensively, redshirt-senior linebacker Quinn Urwiler (Mooseheart, Ill./North Dakota) recorded 12 tackles, his sixth game this season with double-digit stops. He ranks second in the country in tackles with 11.9 per game.
 
Ball State (3-4, 2-1 MAC) has won two of its last three games coming into DeKalb, downing both Ohio and Akron. Quarterback Kiael Kelly rushed for three touchdowns last week in Ball State's win over Akron and has 11 total touchdowns this season. Running Back Qua Ashley is the team's leading rusher with 476 yards. On the other side of the ball, the Cardinals are led by defensive end Nathan Voorhis who has nine sacks this season, putting him tied for second in the nation.
 
The Huskies and Cardinals will be battling for the Bronze Stalk trophy this weekend with Ball State winning the last three meetings, making the all-time series dead even at 25-25-2. Three of the last four meetings have been decided by a last-second field goal. The scoring margin in the last seven meetings is just 15 points.
NIU's next three conference games will be midweek games, beginning at Toledo on Wednesday, Nov. 5.
 
--NIU--