For more than a century, NIU has hosted a Homecoming football game as part of the oldest college tradition in the state and one of the longest in the country.
Since the inaugural contest in 1903 where NIU won 6-0, the Homecoming game hasn’t just become a mainstay on the yearly football schedule. It’s also captured some of the team’s best and worst moments over the decades.
The Huskies are 75-32-10 all-time in their Homecoming games. They lost last year’s game in a 13-6 shortfall against Toledo, and after an even worse scoring performance on Saturday, it’s a good time to look back on the brighter moments of a storied tradition.
Here are NIU’s five best Homecoming wins over the years, from a spoiler of a conference rival to a drought’s end in the rain.
No. 5: NIU 23, Ohio 13 (2023)
When the 116th Homecoming game rolled around, NIU was already riding a rollercoaster of a season.
The Huskies went 1-3 in non-conference play, including an ugly loss at home to Southern Illinois. They then split back-to-back road games in the state of Ohio, losing a close one to Toledo before smacking Akron 55-14.
Come Week 7, the Bobcats arrived in DeKalb as winners of their past five. Ohio was off to a 2-0 start in MAC play and boasted one of the best quarterbacks in the Group of Five in Kurtis Rourke. Needless to say, NIU was going to need a staunch defensive performance to win.
And they got it.
The Huskies intercepted Rourke three times and shut out the Bobcats in the second half to come away with a 23-13 win. The offense scored two touchdowns of 50-plus yards — a 53-yard run by Gavin Williams and a 58-yard pass from Rocky Lombardi to Grayson Barnes — while Kanon Woodill knocked in a trio of field goals.
NIU and Ohio haven’t met since, though they’ll face each other one last time as MAC rivals on Oct. 18 in Athens, Ohio.
No. 4: NIU 49, Central Michigan 0 (2002)
Seven touchdowns, 388 yards, four takeaways and a shutout. The modern-day equivalent of belt to you-know-what.
After escaping Oxford, Ohio, with a 48-41 win over Ben Roethlisberger and the Miami RedHawks a week prior, NIU came home to punish the visiting Central Michigan Chippewas. The Huskies forced CMU to punt a whopping 12 times as NIU pitched its second shutout of the 21st century.
Five different Huskies reached the end zone, led by Michael Turner’s three-touchdown day on the ground. Cornerback Vince Thompson scored his third career touchdown on a 34-yard fumble return. Even punter Jimmy Erwin scored on a fake field-goal attempt from 8 yards out.
More than two decades later, the game is still tied for NIU’s eighth-largest victory as an FBS program. It’s also the only time an NIU punter has ever scored a touchdown, so there’s a fun trivia nugget to take with you.
No. 3: NIU 37, Western Michigan 10 (2003)
Before the Huskies even took the field for their 97th Homecoming game, they were already having a very special year.
They’d won six straight games to start the season undefeated, including Boneyard victories over Maryland, Alabama and Iowa State. The ensuing win against the Broncos was just more icing on the cake.
With 28,221 fans watching — the largest crowd in Huskie Stadium history — NIU delivered a 37-10 blowout, claiming its sixth consecutive Homecoming win. Quarterback Josh Haldi threw for 276 yards and three touchdowns. Michael Turner caught one of those scoring passes and added a rushing touchdown to finish with 211 yards from scrimmage. Meanwhile, Steve Azar tacked on three field goals to round out the scoring.
With later renovations reducing the stadium’s capacity to 23,595, the fans that filled the stands that day will be the most NIU ever has, barring future expansion.
No. 2: NIU 24, Bowling Green 23 (1983)
Who doesn’t love a good, old-fashioned comeback? Well, maybe not Bowling Green, if you turn the clock back to Oct. 22, 1983.
Mother Nature and the Falcons spent the first 30 minutes of that day’s game raining on NIU’s 76th Homecoming. Bowling Green quarterback Brian McClure’s strong first-half passing performance and several NIU errors left the 5-1 Huskies trailing 20-0 at halftime.
Once the weather cleared up, NIU quarterback Tim Tyrrell ignited a rally with a 43-yard touchdown run on a keeper and 253 second-half total offensive yards. The Huskies battled back to make it 23-21 late in the game. After forcing a Bowling Green punt that was fair caught at midfield, the offense picked up 40 yards to set up Vince Scott’s 27-yard field goal for the win.
The crowd, fueled with ecstasy, stormed the north end zone with 15 seconds remaining and tore down the goal post. The fans then escorted the post into Larusso Lagoon, next to Stevenson Towers.
I wonder if that goalpost ever ended up in a lagoon again.
No. 1: NIU 16, Central Michigan 6 (1998)
Unlike the four other games on this list, this one didn’t have anything flashy about it. There wasn’t a blowout. There wasn’t a miraculous comeback. Hell, each team only scored one touchdown.
The Northern Star’s editor in chief at the time, Kevin Wendt, described it as “a slog of a football game in the rain.”
So, how does this take the list’s top spot? Because of what came after.
Once the Huskies had finalized their 16-6 victory over the Chippewas — ending the nation’s longest active losing streak of 23 games — the raucous home crowd plowed over the stadium’s 3-foot fence, stormed the field and uprooted both goal posts from the end zones. By day’s end, the post from the north end zone had found its way into the East Lagoon, where it stayed in the goose feces-flavored water until it was recovered the following Monday.
But the impact of the day lasted far longer than a weekend. It was a renaissance — a turning point for a program that had long been a laughing stock. In the years after that win, the Huskies knocked off notable opponents like Wake Forest, Maryland, Alabama and Iowa State and later went on to win five MAC championship games — more than any active league member.
How’s that for a “Streak Buster?”
