Northern Illinois’ SchedulePalooza is in its second day, and today the Huskies announced a future football series against the BYU Cougars.
Today’s announcement began with a hint on Facebook (team had won at least one national title), followed by one each on Twitter (NIU had never met the team in football) and Instagram (Ghostbusters clip mentioning cats and dogs).
NIU Director of Athletics Sean T. Frazier officially announced the series with the BYU Cougars shortly before 1pm ET.
Northern Illinois will travel to face BYU at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Oct. 27, 2018. The Huskies will then host the Cougars at Huskie Stadium in Dekalb on Oct. 24, 2020.
“BYU is an opponent that will bring a national name and a long tradition of success to our schedule,” Frazier said. “I think this is a series that will make Huskie fans take notice and realize that we are serious about bringing top-quality opponents to Huskie Stadium and that now is the time to get involved with NIU Football.”
As indicated in their hint on Twitter, NIU and BYU have never met on the gridiron.
The Huskies now have three non-conference games slated for 2018 and two for 2020. NIU will travel to Iowa and host Idaho in 2018 and will travel to Iowa again in 2020.
Yesterday, NIU announced a 2016-17 home-and-home football series against San Diego State.
BYU continues to fill out their future schedules, which as an Independent, requires them to locate 12 games.
Games slated for 2018 include home tilts vs. Utah State, NIU, and Hawaii and trips to Arizona, Wisconsin, Boise State, and Utah.
In 2020, BYU is slated to host Arizona and Virginia and travel to Arizona State, Boise State, NIU, and Stanford.
In BYU’s official announcement of the NIU series today, they also announced a home game vs. Idaho State on Oct. 24, 2015. The Cougars were previously slated to host Cincinnati on that date.
Football Schedules