It's been a long time coming, but Northern Illinois University's football team will again host a Bowl Championship Series conference opponent -- three years from now.
NIU Athletic Director Jeff Compher announced a home-and-home series with Big Twelve Conference member Kansas for 2011 and 2012. Coach Jerry Kill's Huskies will travel to Lawrence, Kan., on Sept. 10, 2011 to play the Jayhawks. On Sept. 22 of the following year, Kansas will travel
to DeKalb for a non-conference game.
It will mark the first time since 2003 that a BCS opponent has graced the field turf at Huskie Stadium. That year, Northern played host to -- and beat -- both Maryland and Iowa State on the way to a 7-0 start to the season that sent the Huskies to No. 12 in the national rankings, highest in school history.
Northern had been scheduled to play a home date with Wisconsin this season but agreed to move the game to Madison (Sept. 5) in exchange for Wisconsin agreeing to play Northern at Soldier Field, Sept. 17, 2011.
"Getting a home-and-home series with a BCS conference opponent has been a priority since I came to NIU a year ago," said NIU Associate Vice President and Director of Athletics Jeff Compher. "We know what it means to our fan base to have Kansas come to DeKalb, and this series is something that has been in the works for several months.
"We appreciate the willingness of [Kansas AD] Lew Perkins and his staff to work with us on these games. It's always a challenge, knowing that we have to schedule our non-conference opponents many years out, but this is a scheduling philosophy (home and home series) that we want to continue over time."
NIU coach Jerry Kill is a native of Cheyney, Kan.
who attended Southwestern College in Winfield, Kan. He coached for seven seasons (Pittsburg State, Emporia State) in Kansas and six member s of his coaching staff have played and/or coached there, too.
The only previous meeting between NIU and Kansas came on Sept. 3, 1983 with NIU claiming a 37-34 win in Lawrence to kick off its
1983 MAC Championship and California Bowl season.
Huskie tales, NIU: July 2009 Archives
The Sports Beacon
Rick Armstrong The dean of the Beacon News sports staff, Armstrong covers the boys basketball and Northern Illinois University beats along with general sports coverage.
Jim Owczarski
A graduate of North Central College, Owczarski covers the high school football beat in the fall and the local golf beat year around. He also serves as the Beacon News’ main sports features/enterprise writer. He has won several national writing awards and has a weekly column that runs on Sundays.
Mike Knapp
A sports writer at the Beacon News for over eight years, Knapp is the Kane County Cougars beat writer.
