There have been a plethora of stories the last few days in the area newspapers featuring the NIU football team. Below, you'll find links to all the stories in the Chicago Tribune, Sun-Times, Daily Herald, Beacon News and Rockford Register Star.
Chicago Tribune Army Preview Chandler Harnish Feature Daily Herald Scott Wedige on NIU's Desire to Win a MAC Championship Huskie Running Game Feature Sun-Times How the Huskies Will Handle the Triple Option Coach Doeren, a Big Boxing Fan, Lists his Favorite Fighters Beacon News A Trio of Geneva H.S. Alumns on the NIU Roster Register Star Rashaan Melvin Feature The NIU men's basketball team was up bright and early this past Saturday morning, volunteering its time at the annual Corn Fest 10K Race. The team handed out water and offered encouragement to the runners competing in the race. The Corn Fest Race is one of many community service projects the Huskies have taken part in.Â
The Huskies opened the first weekend of the new school year with plenty of action, as the volleyball and women's soccer teams both hosted tournaments, while the men's soccer team traveled to the Gateway City to take on Saint Louis.
Volleyball: The Huskies kicked off their 2011 season with the NIU Invitational, where they compiled a 2-2 record between Friday and Saturday. Northern Illinois opened the tournament with a
3-1 win over IUPUI. On Friday night, NIU posted an
impressive 3-0 sweep against Cincinnati - a team that went to the NCAA Tournament last season and received votes in the AVCA Preseason Poll. However, the Huskies dropped both of their matches on Saturday,
falling to No. 18 Iowa State, 3-1, and
No. 14 Northern Iowa, 3-0.
Men's Soccer: The Huskies used a dominant first half and stingy defense to
take down the Billikens of Saint Louis, 2-1, in NIU's first regular season match of 2011. Northern Illinois tallied goals in the 36th and 42nd minutes - in addition to out-shooting SLU, 8-1 -Â to take a commanding 2-0 lead into the half. Despite numerous chances for Saint Louis, goalkeeper Jordan Godsey and the NIU defense never relinquished the lead.
Women's Soccer: The Huskies dropped both of their matches this weekend, as they hosted South Dakota State, North Dakota and Western Michigan in the NIU Tourney. On Friday, Northern Illinois took on SDSU and
fell by a score of 3-0, despite shutting out the Jackrabbits in the second half. NIU returned to the pitch on Sunday, but had similar results, as they were
downed by the Fighting Sioux of North Dakota, 2-0.
The 2011-12 year gets even busier this week, as football and cross country open up their respective seasons, while volleyball, men's soccer and women's soccer all hit the road for more tournament action. Stay tuned to www.niuhuskies.com for all the latest news on Huskie athletics.
Rivals.com ranked the quarterback tandem of senior Chandler Harnish and redshirt sophomore Jordan Lynch as the No. 31
quarterback duo in the nation. Harnish turned in a carer year for the Huskies in 2010 passing for 2,530 yards and 21 touchdowns. He was second on the team in rushing with 836 yards and seven touchdowns.
Lynch rushed for 362 yards and three touchdowns in nine games. He was 4-of-6 passing for 13 yards and a touchdown. Only Miami and Western Michigan ranked higher the NIU's quarterback groups in the Mid-American Conference.
With Northern Illinois 2011 football season opener on Sept. 3 versus Army just a little more than a week away, the Huskies have finalized the promotions surrounding the first home opener at Huskie Stadium since 2003.
All fans are being encouraged to wear their Huskie Red as the game is the "Red Sea" promotion as NIU looks to "swamp" the Black Knights of Army (who have sold out of their allotment of tickets for this game, by the way). To help the cause, Northern Illinois will pass out red "We Are Huskies" T-shirts to fans on both the East and West sides of the stadium. In addition, the Thunderstix (yes, they are back) color of the day is red.
As usual, the home opening game has been designated as Biz-Ag Day and the FanFest area on the West Side of the stadium will include a pre-game petting zoo and tractors on display, courtesy of the DeKalb County Farm Bureau.Â
Fans will want to leave the tailgate areas and get to their seats in time to see the coin toss versus Army as Marine Corps veteran and former Northern Illinois defensive end Jake Coffman will be on hand as part of the Wounded Warrior Project. Be in the stadium early to welcome Jake back to Huskie Stadium!
Finally, at the conclusion of the game, stick around for FIREWORKS! What a great way to help celebrate Labor Day weekend and a Huskie victory!
Tickets to the Army game, as well as all single games for the 2011 season, are on sale now. Click on the Buy Tickets button on NIUHuskies.com or at Ticketmaster.com.
Don't miss one of the most exciting games of the season - the 2011 Huskie football season opener on September 3. Kickoff is at 6 p.m., don't be late!
Former Northern Illinois safety Tracy Wilson was signed to a free agent contract by the New York Jets Wednesday, the team announced. Wilson, who graduated from NIU in December and elected to skip his senior season at NIU, had entered his name in the supplemental draft but was not selected. Shortly after that, Wilson was signed by the Jets.
Wilson played in just eight games for Northern Illinois last year and made 35 tackles with two fumble recoveries, an interception and half a tackle for loss. He was injured early in the year versus Illinois and despite returning to action later in the year, did not play at 100 percent.
Wilson was the fourth free agent signing off the 2010 Huskie team. Tailback Chad Spann remains on the Indianapolis Colts' preseason roster while cornerback Chris Smith and wide receiver Landon Cox were released by the Rams and Bengals, respectively.
Â
Former Huskie Trevor Feeney (2005-08) has had an impressive run in the Detroit Tigers farm system this summer. Feeney, a native of Channahon, Ill., was called up to the Toledo Mud Hens, the Tigers Triple-A affiliate, Aug. 19 where he made a start the following night against Louisville.
Soon after his game, the Double-A affiliate Erie Bulldogs recalled Feeney and he will start on the mound tonight against the Bowie Baysox, an affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET.
Fans that want to listen to the game online, can click the link below and stream through the game through their media player (Windows Media Player or iTunes). Look for Erie Bulldogs in a bold black box on the top of the page, click "Listen" and it should load.
Live Audio Stream
Â
CollegeFootballNews.com is
ranking every college football program based on its success over a five year period. Northern Illinois ranks 74th overall and is the third in the Mid-American Conference behind Ohio (69) and Central Michigan (59). CFN.com took into account several factors such as players drafted, quality wins and what they term "bad wins" or wins over teams with three wins or fewer or any non-FBS team.
74. Northern Illinois
- 2011 Preview
Program Analysis: It seems like the ranking should be higher with so much success last year and so many good teams on a regular basis, but the 2-10 2007 season will be on the books for another few years. The APR Score of 9 is fantastic, but the Attendance Score needs to bounce back up and the conference wins have to continue. The 22 Bad Wins lead the nation, but that's not necessarily a bad thing; the Huskies beat the bad teams in the MAC. Now it's time to finally, FINALLY, win a MAC title game, and new head man Dave Doeren is good enough to take what Jerry Kill did over the last few years and make it happen.
2011 TOTAL SCORE: 45.44
2010 Ranking: 74
2009 Ranking: 69
Attendance Score: 1.79
APR Score: 9
Drafted Players: 3
FBS Wins: 29
Quality Wins: 4
Elite Win Score: 0
Bad Loss Score: 1.5
Elite Losses: 4
Bad Wins: 22
Conference Score: 6.15
Lindsey Willhite of the Daily Herald was out at football practice yesterday afternoon, so be on the look out for a few NIU football stories down the road. To tide you over til then, Willhite posted
this item on his blog listing all the local area products on the Huskie roster.
When Chandler Harnish steps on the turf at Huskie Stadium Sept. 3 against Army, he will be looking to follow up one of the best seasons turned in by an NIU quarterback. As Andrea Adelson of ESPN.com writes in
her blog post today, Harnish's record-setting season didn't start out so promising.
While NIU quarterback Chandler Harnish gets much of the pub, one member of the Huskies offense is quietly garnering a lot of respect nationally. Center Scott Wedige, who is on the watch lists for the Remington Award and Lombardi Trophy, is considered
a top 10 interior linemen by Rivals.com and a top five center on the list. In its preseason college football preseason magazine, the Sporting News listed Wedige as the top NFL prospect in the Mid-American Conference.
The Associated Press preseason Top 25 college football poll was released today and Northern Illinois earned four votes from the nation's writers and is tied for 41st in the rankings. NIU was one of just 48 teams in the country to receive even one vote and the Huskies were the only Mid-American Conference squad on the list. The Huskies also received more votes than any other team in the state.Â
In 2010, NIU was ranked as high as No. 24 (AP) and No. 23 (USA Today Coaches) after entering the polls in the "Receiving Votes" category in Week 9. The Huskies closed out 2010 29th in the AP poll and 26th in the USA Today Coaches' listing.Â
Northern Illinois also earned four votes in the preseason USA Today Coaches poll.
To see the complete polls,
click here.
If you haven't already done so, be sure to pick up a
Chicago Tribune today. Fred Mitchell has an
excellent preview story on the Northern Illinois University football team on the back page of the sports section.
Mitchell also breaks down four key Huskies, including NIU head coach Dave Doeren in his
Four Huskies story as well.
Huskie football made national news today. There is a
great feature story on NIU quarterback Chandler Harnish in today's edition of the
USA Today. Harnish, who battled last season to reclaim his starting job, is looking to top his impressive 2010 season and lead the Northern Illinois to a Mid-American Conference championship. His is on four preseason award Watch Lists including the Manning Award, Maxwell Award, Davey O'Brien Award and Walter Camp Award.
The size of the crowd at football practice today increased as a number of students, and their families, participating in move-in day at NIU stopped by to get a glimpse of the 2011 Huskie football team. The Huskies also had another visitor whose face is more familiar around the NIU Convocation Center than on the turf at Huskie Stadium as men's basketball head coach Mark Montgomery stopped by. Montgomery and NIU football coach Dave Doeren chatted for a few minutes during practice, no doubt comparing notes about their transitions as first-year head coaches at NIU.
The Mid-American Conference continues its
13 Teams in 13 Days series with a look at the 2011 Northern Illinois University Huskies. The preview, which is a condensed version of the Blue Ribbon College Football Yearbook, talks about Doeren bringing his defensive philosophy to NIU and the Huskies desire to win a MAC championship. It also includes a video interview of NIU head coach Dave Doeren, quarterback Chandler Harnish and defensive end Sean Progar.
NIU volleyball's Kristin Hoffman and Lauren Wicinski were both mentioned by the
Chicago Tribune Tuesday for being
named to the Preseason All-Mid-American Conference Team. Click the links for more info.
Earlier this week I talked about NIU senior third basemen Troy White beginning the Northwood League playoffs this week with the Battle Creek Bombers. After taking games against Green Bay Monday and Tuesday by scores of 10-3 and 9-8, respectively, the Bombers await tonight's winner of Alexandria-Mankato for the Summer Collegiate World Series.
Congratulations to Troy and the rest of the Bombers. To read the full recap from the Northwood League, click here.
It was a star-studded day at Northern Illinois' morning football practice on Wednesday as not one, but two, College Football Hall of Famers were in attendance. George Bork, who still owns 18 Northern Illinois passing records from his days' as the NIU signal-caller from 1960-63, was at practice with his wife Merlin and granddaughter Addison (5). The Borks were especially interested to see current NIU quarterback Chandler Harnish again as Harnish has a chance to break many of Bork's 47-year-old passing records.Â
"I told [Chandler] it would be OK [if he broke the records]," Bork said with a smile. "I've had them long enough."
Following practice, Harnish, who needs 1,058 passing yards in 2011 to break Bork's career passing yardage mark, and the rest of the quarterbacks came over to greet the NIU great, who was a two-time consensus All-American and led the Huskies to the 1963 National Championship with a perfect 10-0-0 record. Bork also visited with NIU offensive coordinator Matt Canada and assistant coach Tom Matukewicz.
Coincidentally, Wednesday was also the day that Tom Beck, one of the finest two-way players in NIU football history, chose to bring his grandson, Tommy, out to see the Huskies. Beck, who played for the Huskies from 1959-61 and was a second-team All-American at halfback, was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2004. After his playing days, he went on to a very successful career as a college coach.
Beck and Tommy had the chance to visit with NIU safety Tommy Davis during practice. The Huskies' safety told Beck he recognized his name from his locker, which carries Beck's name. Talk about a coincidence!
Both Bork and Beck, who were welcomed to practice in front of the team by NIU Head Coach Dave Doeren, said they remain Huskies, follow the team and look forward to the 2011 season.
Excellent story in today's
Northwest Herald (also picked up in sister paper to Herald, the DeKalb Daily Chronicle) about former Northern Illinois receiving great Sam Hurd. Hurd is currently making a name for himself at Chicago Bears' training camp after spending the past five years with the Dallas Cowboys in his native Texas.Â
In the story, Hurd talks about Illinois as his "second home" and says that his experience at NIU made him better as a man and as a football player.
Hurd ranks as one of the top receivers all-time at NIU with his 143 catches for 2,322 yards and 21 TDs. In 2005, he caught 65 passes for 1,074 yards and 24 catches, including setting the Huskies' single game record for receiving yards versus Central Michigan with 266 on 12 catches.
We hope to see Sam back at an NIU game this fall!
Inside Huskie Stadium, the Northern Illinois football team is hard at work getting ready for the 2011 season, which opens Sept. 3 with a home game versus Army. If you haven't been reading our series of
preseason position previews, and watching the accompanying video on
Huskies' All-Access, you have some catching up to do!
There is also action on the outside of Huskie Stadium as the beams on the West Side are being repainted for the first time in several years. First, all of the beams were power washed and as of Monday, the painting was about halfway done. The difference is clear in the photo above.
The team is ready, the stadium is almost ready...how about you? Have you bought your season tickets yet? There is still time! Â
Click here for all the information and to purchase tickets!Â
Huskie Troy White has had a spectacular summer in the Northwood League, considered to be one of the top collegiate baseball league's in the country, and will begin the playoffs this week with Battle Creek Bombers. The team won the South Division with a record of 43-26 during the regular season and will begin a playoff series with the Green Bay Bullfrogs Aug. 15 at 7:05 p.m.
White, a native of Chicago has appeared in 62 contests this season at third base for the Bombers and even played in this year's Northwood League All Star Game. He is currently hitting .282 at the plate and is the top-fielding third basemen in the league with a fielding percentage of .961. He is also 16th in the league hits and amongst the league leaders in extra base hits with 22.
Check the links below for more information on White and the Battle Creek Bombers.
Northern Illinois University center Scott Wedige was named to Andrea Adelson's
Non-AQ Preseason Team. Wedige is entering his second season as the starting center for the Huskies. He is on the Rimington Trophy Watch List and is a preseason all-MAC by five publications.
With Northern Illinois playing its season opener at Huskie Stadium for the first time since 2003 (a certain victory over No. 15 Maryland that some may recall), the NIU Ticket Office has worked hard to make sure Huskie fans have their season tickets in hand well before the Huskies kick off 2011 versus Army on Saturday, Sept. 3 at 6 p.m.
Today, the Ticket Office reports that all current season ticket orders have been mailed and everyone who has ordered tickets so far should have received, or be receiving, their season tickets in the next few days. This includes all mini-plan orders.Â
In addition, if you ordered home single game tickets, the Ticket Office is caught up on those as well as those orders have been mailed. Of course, Soldier Field Showdown II tickets were mailed as far back as June and continue to be sent out as those orders are received.
Northern Illinois has NOT received all of its tickets for its 2011 away games yet so if you ordered tickets to the Kansas, Central Michigan, or any away game through us, you will be receiving those separately soon. The ticket office hopes to have all of those tickets in DeKalb so that they can be mailed beginning next week.
While season tickets in the past have been available for pick-up at the preseason NIU Family Fun Day, the turnaround time between this year's Family Fun Day on Saturday, August 20 and the date of the home opener was too tight to hold the tickets at NIU.Â
Don't worry, Huskie fans, there will still be a Family Fun Day with the cheerleaders, Victor E. Huskie, a football scrimmage, autographs, posters, schedule cards and more. The football team will take the field for the scrimmage at 11:35 a.m. and all are invited to attend. More details on Family Fun Day will be available soon on NIUHuskies.com, but for now, look for your tickets coming to a mailbox near you.
And a reminder, if you HAVEN'T ordered your season, single game or Soldier Field Showdown II tickets yet, there is STILL time! Order online through the Tickets link at NIUHuskies.com or call us at 815-753-1923.
September 3 is just around the corner! All season tickets ordered after August 22 will have to be picked up at the NIU Athletics Ticket Office in the Convocation Center or at Will Call on game day. Don't wait until the last minute. Get your tickets today.
Rivals.com senior college football writer Tom Dienhart breaks down the 2011 Mid-American Conference football season. He
dubs this year in the MAC - the year of the quarterback. There's a lot of information in this preview and is well worth the read.
Eleven of the league's 13 schools return their starting quarterback from a year ago, with Northern Illinois' Chandler Harnish leading the way. The lone returning QB who is a senior, Harnish led the Huskies to a school-record 11 wins last season. He was selected as the league's best player by two of Rivals.com's five college football writers.
In fact, the Huskies get the most love from one writer in particular, Mike Huguenin. Huguenin picks NIU to win the league, feels Jasmin Hopkins will lead the league in rushing and the Huskies have the best unis.
While the Huskie players were snubbed for many of the individual accolades, Dienhart tabs NIU's Matt Canada as the league's best offensive coordinator. The Huskies were also slighted in the Game of the Year category. Rivals picks the Oct. 22 game between Toledo and Miami, labeling it a MAC Championship preview. Many experts feel the Nov. 1 match up between the Huskies and Rockets will decide the MAC West, potentially making that Oct. 22nd game, just another game.
The Huskies, who were picked to finish first in the MAC West and defeat Miami in the MAC Championship game, did get some love in the unit rankings with the offensive backfield and offensive line tabbed as the best in the league.
The Huskie women's soccer program began the 2011 season with two practices today, focusing on fitness testing in the morning and scrimmaging in the afternoon. Seniors Meaghan Bennett and Kelsey Passaglia give their thoughts on today's effort.
The team also took individual and team photos today. In my short time with the NIU women's soccer team, I can say with full confidence that Passaglia is a ham for the camera. The 1:08 mark in the video might prove that theory as well.
Now is a great time to sign up for
Huskie All-Access as NIUHuskies.com's yearly NIU football position-by-position previews are available over the next two weeks. Yesterday, the
offensive line preview video went live and tomorrow the defensive backs preview will be available.Â
Users can sign up for monthly and yearly packages that include access to live-streamed and archived events, such as men's and women's basketball games, men's and women's soccer matches, volleyball matches, wrestling matches, and gymnastics meets. Users will also be able to view feature videos, highlights, and more. Â
It's never too early to make your bowl plans. Rivals.com has posted its
preseason bowl projections and it has the Huskies making a trip to Detroit to face Northwestern in the Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl Dec. 27, 2011.
The Northern Illinois University football team held its third and final media day of the preseason welcoming reporters from area to NIU's campus for DeKalb Media and Photo Day. There were several stories on many of the Rockford TV stations and in the papers in the surrounding area.
Rick Armstrong of the
Beacon News was hard at work yesterday, filing two stories. He had
this feature story on NIU quarterback Chandler Harnish. He also spoke with Geneva-native and Huskie middle linebacker Pat Schiller for
this story.
Jay Taft of the
Rockford Register Star discussed the
Huskies' new-look offense in his piece in today's paper on the no-huddle offense NIU will be employing this season.
Lindsey Willhite of the
Daily Herald and the staff of the
Daily Chronicle were also on hand as well. Keep your eyes open for stories on the Huskies in those publications as well.
Tom Keegan of
Lawrence Journal World filed
this story on Northern Illinois University head coach Dave Doeren. A native of Shawnee Mission, Kan., Doeren was the linebackers coach for Kansas from 2002-04 before being promoted to co-defensive coordinator. Doeren and the Huskies travel to Lawrence, Kan. Sept. 10 to face the Jayhawks.
Fans will get a chance to see the Huskie football team in a whole other dimension when NIU travels to Toledo Nov. 1. The game, which will be televised on ESPN2, will also be shown on ESPN's ground-breaking station, ESPN3D. ESPN has produced many 3D domestic telecasts in 2010 and 2011, including the BCS National Championship game, multiple college football and basketball games, as well as Major League Baseball's Home Run Derby.
ESPN3D is available nationwide to more than 65 million households and has carriage agreements with Comcast, DIRECTV, Time Warner Cable and Verizon FIOS.
Lindsey Willhite has a
great post today in his blog on the
Daily Herald's website. He breaks down all three of the Football Subdivision Schools in Illinois and discusses Jeff Sagarin's preseason computer rankings, which are pretty favorable to the Huskies. In his post on NIU, Willhite talks about the strength of the Huskies - their offensive line.
After driving 2,100 miles, covering six Western states in a 53 hour span, I bring to you my first entry in Huskie Happenings. My name is Matt Scheerer and I'm the newest Assistant Media Relations Director for NIU, covering women's soccer, men's tennis and baseball.
Â
I come to DeKalb from Portland State University and am a native of Vancouver, Wash. There I covered women's soccer, track and tennis, along with producing the department's video content for their website and Facebook fan page. Before PSU, I was an intern in Harvard University's Athletic Communications Office. I'm looking forward to bringing my experience in new media platforms to promote and publicize Huskie Athletics.
Â
While I could probably write a book about all the driving I've done the last two weeks, a North Dakota wedding included, and my experience in Sidney, Neb., the birthplace of Cabelas - The World's Foremost Outfitter - I'm keeping the entry short and simply using this as an introduction. So if you see me at a game, say hello and introduce yourself.
Â
Until next time, Go Huskies.
Lindsey Willhite of the
Daily Herald was out at the Huskies' first practice. The veteran scribe filed
this story on the defending Mid-American Conference West Division champs potent offense. First-year head coach Dave Doeren knew what he was getting in his offensive coordinator Matt Canada as the two faced off against each other when Doeren was the defensive coordinator at Wisconsin and Canada was running the offense at Indiana.
Phillip Wilson of the
Indianapolis Star caught up with former Huskie and current Indianapolis Colt, Chad Spann, in
this Q&A. The Indianapolis native talked about his time at Northern Illinois and what it means to him to be a part of the running back legacy at NIU. He also mentioned meeting another fellow Huskie, left tackle Ryan Diem, and Colts quarterback Peyton Manning.
With the Huskies beginning practice today at Huskie Stadium, Lindsey Willhite of the Daily Herald posted
this preseason camp primer in his blog today. Willhite breaks down the Huskie running back corps with NIU tailback Jas Hopkins.
As the Northern Illinois University football team
opens its 2011 preseason camp this afternoon, the
USA Today announced its
preseason coaches poll today. The Huskies tallied four points and are the only Mid-American Conference schools to receive votes. NIU cracked the the Top 25 last season, ranking 23rd in the USA Today Coaches Poll and 24th in the Associated Press rankings.
The bowl game in which the Huskies turned in
such a dominating performance has changed its name. the
Humanitarian Bowl announced today that it will be called the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. The nation's longest-running outdoor cold-weather bowl, played since 1997, will feature a top selection from the Western Athletic Conference and Mid-American Conference. The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl will be played Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011 at Bronco Stadium in Boise, Idaho and televised on ESPN. The Idaho Potato Commission signed a six-year naming rights deal to sponsor the Bowl, beginning immediately and running through the 2016 game.
