Northern Illinois to play Bucks in '06

[BB73]

I'm not sure when this game was scheduled, but there was a news release on it today. Here's our 2006 schedule, with the 12th game still undetermined.

Northern Illinois (9/2)at Texas (9/9)
Cincinnati (9/16)
Penn State (9/23)
at Iowa (9/30)
at Michigan State (10/14)
Indiana (10/21)
Minnesota (10/28)
at Illinois (11/4)
at Northwestern (11/11)
Michigan (11/18)

DEKALB, Ill. (AP) -- Northern Illinois will start the 2006 football season at Ohio State, making it the second consecutive year it will open against one of the Big Ten's traditional powers, the school announced Monday.

Northern Illinois will start its 2005 campaign against back-to-back Big Ten opponents -- with the Michigan game on Sept. 2 at Ann Arbor being followed by a game at Northwestern on Sept. 10.

The game at Ohio State is scheduled for Sept. 2, 2006 in Columbus.

"This certainly is a monumental moment for our institution and our football program," NIU athletic director Jim Phillips said in a statement.

Last season, Northern Illinois wound up 9-3 overall and shared its third Mid-American Conference West Division crown in the last four years with Toledo. The Huskies topped Troy University, 34-21, in the Silicon Valley Football Classic. It was the Huskies' first trip to a postseason game in 21 years.<!--startclickprintexclude-->

[MililaniBuckeye]

bb73: They've been the schedule for a while. They were already on the schedule when I ginned up this Future Football Schedules a couple months back.

[BB73]

Yeah, sorry. I saw the press release and posted the thread thinking they were the 12th game. Then I checked the schedule and realized that wasn't the case. I don't know why N. Illinois did a press release, it really wasn't a newsworthy item.

Is there a DUMB POST award?

It was from SI.com, as a 'top story'


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[Misanthrope]

Just months after two Northern Illinois-Big Ten matchups were announced for the 2005 football season, NIU Athletics Director Jim Phillips announced May 16 that the Huskies will face Ohio State in 2006.
NIU is also scheduled to play BCS power Tennessee in 2006, and is slated to play Big Ten teams Iowa (2007) and Purdue (2009) within the decade.

I recommend that the Bucks show up for this one. If recent history means anything, sleepwalking versus the Huskies could make this a difficult September game.

They open versus scUM this year, and don't be surprised if they knock off Northwestern (although they may not have much left the week after their trip to the Pighouse).

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news?s...wire&type=lgns

[MililaniBuckeye]

Already a thread on this game:

Northern Illinois to play Bucks in '06

[gbearbuck]

I don't like it... let OSU beat up Ohio U/Kent/Miami/BG/Toledo/Akron/etc... The money should be kept in state... what do we care about schools in Illi??? Why help them out?