Head Coach: Thomas Hammock is entering his 6th season with the Huskies. He has a 24-33 record and it’s been quite the ride. They refuse to be the same year after year. They went 5-7 in his first year, tanked to 0-6 in the Covid year, won the MAC in 2021, tanked to 3-9 in 2022 and then rebounded to 7-6. Finding a consistent upward trajectory would be nice for the Huskies.
Program Outlook: Northern Illinois had been used to being one of the top programs in the MAC for a while but they’ve seen a drop off from that in recent years outside of that 2021 season. It’s been a strange up and down few years but the hope is that the Huskies are back to being contenders.
How does the 2024 Roster look?: The Huskies return almost as many starters as anyone in the conference. The offense will be led by RB Antario Brown who’s one of the best backs in the MAC they also got a huge pickup in Iowa transfer RB Gavin Williams. Another huge pickup wasn’t actually a pickup at all, because sometimes the biggest wins are the ones you keep. That was the case for the Huskies in convincing top receiver Trayvon Rudolph to withdraw from the portal and return, he leads a deep experienced group of receivers. Rocky Lombardi was around forever and he made it through a large part of season but now he finally ran out of eligibility. It’s going to be a mostly wide open competition but Ethan Hampton has some experience playing last year. The Huskies will be hoping for some luck so that whoever wins the job is healthy the full season, the last time that happened in 2021 they won the MAC. Northern Illinois had a good defense last year, one of their best defensive seasons in some time. There’s some transition here but the Huskies secondary should be a strength, and they could make a better impact if the Huskies can get after opposing QBs better. Don’t let the lack of sacks fool you, the defensive line is still a strength for this defense.
Screenshot from fbschedules.com1
2024 Schedule Thoughts: The schedule is pretty tough. The Huskies challenged themselves with some tough games against Notre Dame and NC State. Western Illinois enters the season riding a 24 game losing streak so the Leathernecks are a favorable opponent, and UMass is essentially a 9th conference game since the Minutemen join the MAC next year. If the Huskies make a run to the MAC championship they will have earned it, they play just about every contender except Ohio.
Vegas Projection: Northern Illinois’ win total is set at 6.5 with the odds geared toward the over. Vegas sees positive momentum despite the tougher schedule.
2024 Best Case: Northern Illinois gets back to the glory days. The Huskies dominate the opener and then catches Notre Dame reeling after their opening game. The Huskies put on a defensive masterclass and score enough on offense to pull off a shocking upset. Northern Illinois carries the momentum past Buffalo, and there’s no shame in a tight loss to NC State. The Huskies roll past UMass and pick up key wins over BG and Toledo to establish themselves as the top dog in the MAC. They dominate down the stretch to set up a huge showdown against Miami. The Huskies grind out a close defensive victory for a huge win over the Redhawks. They enter a MAC championship rematch against Miami 2 weeks later at 11-1. The Huskies show their previous victory was no fluke in pulling off another commanding win over the Redhawks to earn a playoff birth. The Huskies lose a tight game to Ohio State in the first round but it’s a successful season nonetheless.
2024 Worst Case: Northern Illinois struggles to find a QB or movement on offense while the defense regresses and it’s yet another even year collapse under Hammock. They win the opener but are run off the field by Notre Dame. The Huskies collapse continues as they struggle their way to a 1-5 record in the next 6 to fall out of bowl eligibility. They fail to win any games the rest of the way, even failing to beat Akron in a 2-10 meltdown which makes anyone wonder if they’ll ever find consistent momentum.
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