LB Pat Schiller has agreed to terms w/ the Atlanta Falcons. Schiller has always been an extremely productive part of the defense and made a huge comeback after injuring his knee in 2010.

WR Nathan Palmer has agreed to a free agent deal with the San Francisco 49ers. He was Harnish's #1 target his entire career and had an extremely good pro day running in the 4.3s.

C Scott Wedige has agreed to a deal w/ the Arizona Cardinals. The 6'4" 300 lb Wedige has been regarded as one of the best pro prospects on the Huskies for years.

Congrats to these Huskies! All of them have a very good chance at having successful careers at the next level. Especially NaPalm (did you see the 49ers offense last year?)

I felt it in the air just looking at the picks winding down. Hmm, what team would take Chandler Harnish. Wouldn't it be great if he was picked last? To garner the title of Mr. Irrelevant?

And that's exactly what happened.

The four year starter for Northern Illinois was known as a Tebow-lite quarterback in the offense-heavy Mid-American Conference. He is a winner and has tremendous presence both in the pocket and when scrambling for a first down with his feet.

It may take him some time to get used to the NFL, but playing behind another rookie in Andrew Luck should get him solid reps. Other QBs for Indianapolis: Drew Stanton and Trevor Vittatoe.

Congrats, Chandler.

UPDATE: Here is some video of the pretty awkward announcement (via @sbnation)

And here is some of the fun stuff he gets to do in Newport Beach, CA.

• Spring game Analysis: Only one spot on the offensive line is safe, the RBs need to step up, Jordan Lynch is good, the LBs are good and Tommylee Lewis is a beast.
• Bill Connelly does arguably the best offseason preview of the Huskies you'll see from anybody. He's on the MAC right now. Check it out.
• Vote for GameDay to come to NIU has a broke, so wait till they're up again to vote.
• Alex Kube invited to Vikings minicamp and Xavier Silas signs with the Philadelphia 76ers in preparation for the playoffs. Always good to see Huskies with pro aspirations. Should be interesting to see where players end up this weekend in the draft and through free agency. Harnish expects to be drafted in the 5th or 6th round of the draft.
• After reading over 4,000 books, the reward for these kids is TO BE READ TO MORE by NIU football players Chandler Harnish and Adam Kiel.

SPRING GAME SUMMARY

• QB Jordan Lynch takes over in NIU spring football game - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star
• Northern Illinois football: QB Jordan Lynch stars in spring game - Chicago Tribune
• QB Jordan Lynch, NIU offense gives little preview of what's to come - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star
• Huskie Wire | The Natural: Lynch shines at scrimmage
• Red Defeats White 31-6 with Lynch in Charge - Northern Illinois Official Athletic Site
• Photos: Northern Illinois spring football game | Daily Chronicle
• Huskie Wire | Spring game notes: Lynch takes over at QB

VIDEO

• NIU spring football game: Dave Doeren
• NIU spring football game: Jordan Lynch

Continue reading this post »

SpringFest is April 21st and will be the best day of your life up to this point. Be there.

Here is the most recent news for your consumption:

Santa was a beast towards the end of the season last year, but where will he fit in next season?

Monday's news and notes: Everybody was "really good", especially Martel Moore (duh) & every running back. Everything has been installed that they wanted to have installed on offense and defense.

The official site says "MOMENTUM SHIFTS" about the scrimmage, which means that the offense finally got it together against the defense.

Offense does good things! Lynch being a leader! A bunch of skill players but no standouts at RB! Questionable offensive line!

McIntosh improving as Lynch's backup.

LYNCH WILL COOK OFFENSIVE LINEMEN MEAT IF THEY DO GOOD ON FOOTBALL FIELD.

Offense revving up, minor injuries around.

With Tyler Loos & Jared Volk out, the OL still making progress.

Expect to see TommyLee Lewis all over the field next season.

Ryan Brown & Tyler Pitt splitting time @ LT and Michael Gegner w/ Andrew Ness close behind at C.

OC Mike Dunbar making progress, Jhony Faustin out for the spring w/ a broken ankle.

[O/T] CRAZY BASKETBALL DRAMAS

Been a little behind lately, so here it goes. Doeren says that around 50% of what he wanted to accomplish this spring has been installed. Let's take a look at the progress, shall we? Two more weeks till the Spring Game.

• How does Jamison Wells juggle both his football and baseball careers at the same time? Should he just focus on one sport if he wants to be successful?
• NIU's second spring scrimmage was sloppy with penalties and turnovers. Is Leighton Settle "settling" himself in at the RB position?
• An official article in which Dave Doeren says that QB Jordan Lynch "has swag"
• Senior DT Nabal Jefferson is out for the spring with a foot fracture. More on Settle and Lynch performing well. Yet another media platform where I can see the "swag" quote.
• Seeing reps at TE are Luke Eakes, Tim Semisch and DeVonte Majors. Jason Schepler will be back from his ACL injury in the fall. Will this group of athletic TEs finally make that impact NIU fans have been hoping for for years from the positon?

Continue reading this post »

We have releases from the official site and HUSKIE WIRE. We knew the non-conference slate, but with the reduction of Temple from the MAC conference they had to switch a lot of things around.

In terms of non-conference, Army is a huge trap game before getting Kansas at home, the biggest game in Huskie Stadium in years. Army has one of the best teams they've had in a long, long time.

For the conference schedule, it's fairly tame.

2012-2013 SCHEDULE

Date	Opponent / Event	Location	Time
09/01/12	vs. Iowa	Chicago, Ill. (Soldier Field)	TBA
09/08/12	vs. Tennessee-Martin	DeKalb, Ill.	TBA
09/15/12	at Army	West Point, N.Y.	TBA
09/22/12	vs. Kansas	DeKalb, Ill.	TBA
09/29/12	vs. Central Michigan *	DeKalb, Ill.	TBA
10/06/12	at Ball State *	Muncie, Ind.	TBA
10/13/12	vs. Buffalo *	DeKalb, Ill.	TBA
10/20/12	at Akron *	Akron, Ohio	TBA
10/27/12	at Western Michigan *	Kalamazoo, Mich.	TBA
11/03/12	vs. Massachusetts *	DeKalb, Ill.	TBA
11/14/12	vs. Toledo *	DeKalb, Ill.	8:00 p.m. CT
11/23/12	at Eastern Michigan *	Ypsilanti, Mich.	TBA

It The homeslate looks entirely beatable, with CMU probably being the toughest test. We'll be motivated to beat them after last year's fiasco but it does take place after the KU game.

The road is where NIU might struggle with a much less experienced offense. Ball State will be tricky always with Lembo in charge, WMU's Cubit will be fighting for his job and a potential letdown in the season ender @ EMU with Ron English still in charge.

I especially like the break right before the Toledo game, which happens to land on a Wednesday. The final game of the season will take place on the Friday before Thanksgiving. No one will be in Ypsilanti for that one.

What are your thoughts on the schedule next season?

Here is today's report per HUSKIE WIRE/Blade as usual.

It was a pretty standard day for the most part. Bass moseyed on down to Lucas County, which makes for an already miserable Thursday. Plead not guilty, yada, yada. But then there's this:

According to a report from Toledo Blade staff writer Erica Blake, judge Ruth Ann Franks "ordered a monitored recognizance bond, which includes regular phone contacts, as well as drug and alcohol testing." Before ordering the bond, the judge asked what a drug test today would show.

Bass then acknowledged that marijuana would be found in his system.

"I didn't know that football players at university could smoke dope," Franks said, according to The Blade. The judge was standing in for Judge James Jensen, who was assigned the case.

UH OH. More trouble for Bass.

A few thoughts about this:

• Cool it with the weed guys. I know I did it my college days, but we didn't have two guys last season for that same reason. This is a stupid pedestal that I'm on and it's the offseason, but if I were on the team I wouldn't touch the stuff. Again, Bass is a redshirt freshman.
• How could he not have known about this drug test that was happening? Is Bass' lawyer that dumb? Did he just not inform Bass that this would happen? If he knew beforehand, then he could have taken some super-cleanser and at least got the level down to being negligible. Shocking that this came as a surprise. Or maybe it didn't. Too quick of a turnaround time possible, charges as a surprise.
  
• What is the lawyer doing not advising Bass to just keep quiet about what the test might result? He shouldn't have said anything to discriminate against himself in this situation in the first place.
• Why are we even talking about this? This is completely irrelevant to the original case. Might add to his lack of character? OR WAS HE HIGH WHEN HE KNOCKED THE BAND MEMBER DOWN? HAHAHAHAHA NO.

More from HW:

"Northern Illinois Athletics has in place a Drug Testing Policy which applies to all student-athletes," the statement read. "That policy dictates a specific course of action which NIU will now begin with football’s Jamaal Bass based on his statement today in Toledo."

Hear that? That's Bass being suspended for even more games. It's a good thing Tyrone Clark is back at OLB after losing a year of eligibility for doing the exact same thing. Somebody please keep any more of our defensive players from smoking the ganja PRONTO!

Even after two days of letting it sink in, I'm still upset with the whole situation. This is an embarrassing situation for the band, Toledo and society as a whole.

HUSKIE WIRE rang in with an article yesterday summarizing the report:

Jamal is still in school and on the football team, which is a reasonable situation to be in. No need to overreact in this sort of situation.

Then we learn a little more about the details surrounding the situation:

NIU originally suspended Bass for one game, but the punishment was extended to three games after
learning two of the band members received concussions in the incident. Toledo officials initially told Compher the band members were fine, which led to the one-game suspension.

TWO CONCUSSIONS??? THE MAC BETTER WATCH OUT FOR BASS IN 2012.

Ok, if you look at it you see Bass' shoulder pad hitting one guy. And that guy barely brazes another guy, you can see grabbing his nose or something goofy. REALLY? This caused two concussions folks. Not just mild headaches. Where was the other guy that fell down and went concussion boom?

AND THEY WERE FINE INITIALLY.

I've had concussions before and I was DEFINITELY NOT fine initially when they happened. This is a typical Adam/Craig James over-embellishment and over-pursuit of bringing somebody down with a lawsuit.

There's also this other article that throws a bunch of lawyer jargon in there and doesn't solve much. No he didn't purposely hit the guy to harm him.

Also, this never would have happened if it weren't for ESPN's cameras and the fact that @bubbaprog put the gif out there to be played and replayed over and over again.

Oh the perils of having nationally televised games on Tuesdays...

Per HUSKIEWIRE/Toledo Blade

This is just ridiculous folks. Northern Illinois starting Linebacker Jamaal Bass indicted on two counts of assault? One Felony and one Midemeanor? Are you kidding me?

Doeren and Bass not only apologized to the University of Toledo, but Bass was already suspended three games last season? And now criminal charges?

You can see the video here:

NIU player VS. UT Band Member (via pepperguy)

We've looked at this situation before and the whole thing is a joke. The charges are going to get dropped. Sure he intentionally ran in to the guy. Wouldn't you if he were IN YOUR WAY when you were running on to the field? What a freaking joke.

Two seasons ago, the Ohio Bobcats mascot physically attacked Brutus the Buckeye and no files were charged then. He was just fired. Bass was suspended. Punishment was lent out.

Now you've got a guy amped up to play a game in Toledo (which we would win 63-60 btw). Against your biggest rivalry for a chance to reach the championship of your conference. And there's some band nerd casually making his way off the field. What would you do in this situation?

If you watch the video or the GIF over and over again, he barely nudged the idiot band member that shouldn't have been there in the first place.

WHAT NOW?

Is the Tuba player who got assaulted in the 1982 Cal-Stanford game going to come out and sue Kevin Moen, the Cal player that scored the touchdown? Are they going to sue Chandler Harnish for criminally assaulting their defense the last two years? (h/t @nburzych)

This is so stupid. Bass was just a redshirt freshman, and I think he can learn from a mistake. We should just walk out on to the field this year in Huskie Stadium. Now that would be a statement.

Tuck Foledo.

Third time's a charm I suppose. I knew something was off with that -8 point spread for the Huskies, since there were less games on the schedule they probably inflated the odds to get more people to bet on the Eagles. I just never thought that NIU would win the game straight up!

The Northern Illinois Huskies had a fortunate draw getting the 14-18 Eastern Michigan Eagles. Despite "winning" the MAC West, the Eagles are considerably a weaker opponent than any of the MAC East teams.

It may not show it on the scoreboard, but the Huskies went bonkers offensively in the limited possessions they had. Their effective FG% was a whopping 60.3% compared to their usual 42.8%. 19 out of 39 (48.7%) field goal attempts and 9 of 21 from three are tremendous numbers.

In fact the offense and defense was so good, EMU even beat the Huskies in turnovers (16-11), rebounding (28-27) and shooting free throws (8-13 to 14-20). Holding an opponent to 11 points in a first half is going to do the trick, even if they put up 41 in the second.

You can read the official release here. Stats here. This win was just so huge for the program and the Huskies.

What's great is that everybody on this team is equally important and they fight so hard to win games. Tony Nixon had 14 points and Askel Bolin had 13. Both had 5 rebounds.

The Huskies will take the short bus ride down to Cleveland and rest and prepare for a winnable game against Western Michigan.

Three chances for Northern Illinois to defeat the Eastern Michigan Eagles. Will it happen? Not likely.

When we last saw the Huskies, they blew a 32-24 lead at halftime to the Ball State Cardinals, only to lose the game 61-52. How does this happen? Well, a ridiculous 24 fouls were called on the Huskies compared to only 11 for the Cardinals. 15 FT attempts to 6. How do things like this happen? Getting out-rebounded 35-29 and 16-9 on the offensive boards didn't help as well.

Abdel Nader did his usual thing scoring 16 and grabbing 6 boards.

Up comes the Eagles. The first time we lost 40-47 at home, the second time we lost 48-45 on the road. Now we should win the game? Would be nice, but you can't trust the 0-14 Huskies on the road.

The spread opened up at -8 and is rising, which is absolutely mind-boggling, considering the pace of how both these teams play. In their last game, they got humiliated by Toledo 51-76 on the road, making the line that much more confusing.

I want the Huskies to be competitive in this one, but considering we can't win a road game and the fact we haven't won a MAC tourney game since 2003 I don't feel comfortable backing the Huskies in this one.

EMU 61, Huskies 49

Victory couldn't be sweeter in Dekalb tonight as Northern Illinois took down Toledo in the final home game of the season.

Even though this was a night for the seniors, freshman Abdel Nader led the team in scoring with 12 points and sophomore Aksel Bolin scored 10 while grabbing 8 boards and dishing out 4 assists.

Senior Tyler Storm did get the start and finished with 8 points and 3 rebounds in 18 minutes played. DeMarcus Grady went in the game just before the half and played just one minute.

The game was pretty much even in most statistical categories. What this game came down to was whoever wanted the game more in the end, which ended up being the Huskies. The Huskies dominated the boards as usual 31-25 with 11 offensive boards to 5. That is huge.

The Huskies were actually out shot 44.2% to 41.2% but NIU had 8 more shot attempts due to the rebounding success.

The game was tied 61-61 with 3:32 left in the game. Keith Gray put in the basket to not only tie the game, but to put the Huskies ahead by one with a free throw and another layup to go up 64-61.

After that the Rockets missed a three, the Huskies rebounded but then missed three straight shots of their own. Toledo misses yet another three, but NIU turns the ball over again to Toledo.

The Rockets look to take a game-tying three with 7 seconds left in the game but Marquavese Ford steals the ball and Toledo has to foul with two seconds left in the game. He makes a free throw to seal put NIU up by 4 and seal the deal at the end.

Couldn't have asked for a better senior night for the Huskies in this one. It was nearly the same score as the football game which was 63-60. Way to outscore that one.

Official Release

Northern Illinois Huskies (3-24, 2-12 MAC) vs. Toledo Rockets (15-14, 6-8 MAC)
Date: Wednesday February 29, 2012
Tipoff: 7 p.m.
Location: NIU Convocation Center • DeKalb, Ill.
Radio: WLBK 1360-AM in DeKalb, WJOL 1340-AM in Joliet and WLIP 1050-AM in Kenosha
Live Stats: NIUHuskies.com

On Saturday, January 14th 2012, the Huskies came away with their first MAC and D-I victory of the season over the Central Michigan Chippewas 74-66. The ecstasy of that victory would only last so long as four days later the Huskies traveled to Toledo and got rocked 41-71.

Nothing worked in that game. Toledo shot a ridiculous 53.2% compared to only 30.2% for NIU. 23 turnover. The Huskies did get to the line more than the Rockets, but only made 12 of 23 points. The 40 point margin of victory was the largest of the conference season. Now it's payback time.

I'm sure the Huskies will be chomping at the bit to defeat the Rockets on a rather peculiar senior night.

The two seniors to be honored will be Tyler Storm and DeMarcus Grady.

Who? You might ask yourself seeing those two names.

A huge prospect coming out of high school, it took forward Tyler Storm a while to get acclimated with the college game. He's having his best season so far as arguably the best 6th man on the team. He's playing 13.7 mins per game and scores 3.7 ppg and grabs 2.7 rpg, both career highs.

His season has been up and down, but in 29 minutes and 17 points vs. Miami OH, Storm his his peak, guiding the Huskies to a 62-59 victory over the Miami Redhawks at home.

Grady is probably more famous for his time on the gridiron, switching from QB to WR. Now another position change as playing point guard part-time for the Huskies. Grady made his debut January 18th vs Toledo ironically and added some much needed depth as Zach Miller went down with his knee injury. Just as he played a bit last year, Montgomery welcomed him on the team.

Miller plays only 5.8 mpg, but he's helped this team quite a bit just by being on the team these past two seasons.

Missing is Tim Toler, who got kicked off the team earlier this season. Oh wells.

I really hope the Huskies can put together a victory for the seniors. They've been so close lately and now is the time to put that last W on the scoreboard. The spread also likes the revenge spot for the Huskies, as they opened up as 5-point favorites, down to four.

The Huskies expect to slow it down and have a focus on defense [per NStar]:

“They are a high-octane team,” Christian said. “They like to get up and down. The last game we weren’t able to stop them in transition with our turnovers and our quick shots, but we’ve learned in order to beat them we have to keep them in the low 60s and 50s, take care of the ball and stop them in transition.”

Sounds like a 62-61 grind-it-out victory for the Huskies. What do you think?

Just as predicted, the Huskies kept it close but failed to seal the deal in a road game against the Eastern Michigan Eagles this past Thursday. Similarly to the first game, EMU went 17 of 24 from the line, while NIU only went 11 of 15. The Huskies really like to hack the opponent on the road for some reason. The Huskies fought hard and dominated the boards 40-28, but just couldn't put it together to win their first road game of the season.

The Huskies were up 39-26 with 11:49 left in the game, but then the Eagles took over, going on a 15-0 run that NIU just couldn't come back from. There were a few seconds left in the game to try and put up a three-pointer, but the Huskies failed to put up a decent shot. 17 turnovers didn't help the Huskies either.

Abdel Nader and Tony Nixon had 10 points apiece.

Next up were the Central Michigan Chippewas on Saturday. I had this game circled as a game the Huskies would keep fairly close with, and they were a tad disappointing considering we had already beaten CMU this season. The Chips wanted that sweet revenge, though.

If you thought the EMU game was bad with hacking, CMU went to the line a whopping 40 TIMES! They were only 25 of 40, but then the Huskies were barely better shooting 18 of 28. The Huskies woke up a little bit offensively as Abdel Nader had 24 and Keith Gray had 13. However, the Huskies only shot 36.4% to CMU's 45.7%. CMU also beat the Huskies where the normally dominate on the boards 40-34.

Next up is the Toledo Rockets on Tuesday at home. The Rockets beat the Huskies 41-71 earlier this season in Toledo, so it might be time for some revenge of our own.

I've been knocking on the decreasing quality of Northern Star over the years and lately I've found some articles that begin to prove my point. It's not nice to pick on student journalists. Heck, I have never been one, I'm just some blogger guy. Anyways, cheers to Brian Belford for this gem of an article:

[note: this is satire, however I am unsure the article in question is satire itself]

As an NIU student, there are a lot of things to pay for.

Like booze, ramen and.. I dunno, more booze?

The biggest of these, of course, is tuition.

Oh, that's right.

One fee that is factored into every student's tuition are tickets to NIU sporting events. This allows every student to go to any event, whether it be football, wrestling, tennis or golf, and see the game or match for "free," although technically it has already been paid for.

Aha, I see that you put "free" into quotes there. I can see you putting up finger quotes as you write this. The tickets aren't free. You have to walk all the way to the convocation center to get your tickets. ALL THE WAY TO THE CONVO. Do you know how long of a walk that is?

The problem here is exactly how many students are going to these games? Obviously, football games attract a lot of fans, but no one tailgates outside of the Convocation Center for a gymnastics event (no offense, gymnasts).

Tailgating for gymnastics is best left for the SEC. Also, since when did tailgating = actual attendance. A lot of [bad] people just tailgate and don't go to the games. And we want to watch you perform while eating THE EXPENSIVE GROSS NACHOS AND HOT DOGS THE CONVO SERVES. And don't get me started on how students have to pay for parking.

Continue reading this post »

Northern Illinois is set to tip off 6 pm tonight against the Eastern Michigan Eagles tonight in the [EVIL] Convocation Center in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The last time these two teams met we were treated by an offensive showcase as EMU came through with a 47-40 win in Dekalb. In that game, Tim Toler led the Huskies with a whopping 11 points and Zach Miller helped out with 9 points and 4 assists.

Problem is, Toler isn't even with the team anymore and that EMU game was one of the last ones that he played before going down with a knee injury. Despite those losses, the Huskies still matchup fairly well with EMU stats-wise. NiU has advantage on the boards and are fairly similar on the offensive side of things. What really sets their team apart is their 118th ranked defense.

NIU and EMU's offenses? 339th and 323rd respectively. 292nd and 341st tempos as well. Not too much offense to see here, folks. Their 5'10" senior PG Darrell Lampley is their leading scorer w/ 13 ppg but there's not too much past him.

The problem in the last game was the absurd amount of times that EMU went to the line. The Eagles were 19 of 24 from the line and the Huskies were only 5 of 7. That was almost half of their points for the game.

Tangibles

The Huskies may have the mental advantage as they have nothing to lose. They're going to be very upset and playing hard after their buzzer beater loss at SIU-Edwardsville. However, EMU also had a close 49-54 loss to UW-Green Bay in their bracketbuster as well. It's a big revenge game for the Huskies, who don't have anything to lose at this point and are playing loose.

The Huskies are 0-11 on the road, but this is definitely a chance to get a W. EMU is 7-3 at home and leads the miserable MAC West.

You can listen to the game on WEMU and possibly watch on MAC-Sports.com

After reading this article on how Harnish won an award for toughness, I thought back on how much the quarterback actually had to endure throughout his career, and it sure was a lot.

One thing I wanted to document was the career of Chandler Harnish, who's legacy overshadows this blog entirely. I started it the season he was redshirting in 2007. We'll be taking a look year-by-year at what went right for Chandler, what went wrong and his highlights along the way. Consider this a reflection of the number one most decorated quarterback in Northern Illinois history.

I spent the past few days reading some of the older stuff that I had written. I must have been one bored kid in college. Oh to have all the time in the world to blog about NIU sports. Enough of this real-life stuff, that was the best back in the day. I like to take claim that I was on the forefront of Northern Illinois coverage back in the day, before Huskie Wire had taken any form just yet. I almost a tear looking back at the old site niusports.blogspot.com. What an achievement it was to make my way on to SBNation.com, the biggest network of blogs on the internet. The media has changed so much to incorporate smaller conferences like the MAC and I am happy to be part of the small niche blogs that started that movement.

With all of the turmoil that Northern Illinois experienced these past few years, one of the only consistent things this team had was Chandler Harnish. After a 2-10 season in 2007, it supposedly was a tight race between Chandler Harnish and what was left of Dan Nicholson to start the 2008 season. The majority of fans thought that Chandler would be the man going in for his first snap, but none of us knew that was going to happen until the first snap of the game. The game against Minnesota was truly a coming out party for Harnish, throwing for 326 yds and two touchdowns to his number one target, Nathan Palmer. Ironically enough, Minnesota would hire Kill three seasons later.

Here's a rather predictive blog post:

A pair of redshirt freshmen stole the spotlight today. Harnish to Palmer. Harnish to Palmer. We'll be hearing that combo being heard over and over again in the next few years. In case you didn't hear, we only lost by 4 points to a (good) Big 11 team 27-31.

Continue reading this post »

via imgs.sfgate.com

As most of you know, P.J. Fleck left NIU after his one day job as offensive coordinator for the Huskies to leave to coach Wide Receivers for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The move seems simple, as he will be coaching under his former boss Schiano, who he had the same position with the last two years at Rutgers U. Wait a second, Fleck exclaimed that he wasn't ready for the offensive coordinator position at NIU, but will take his talents to the pros? Apparently he wasn't comfortable with the role as coordinator.

I've never seen a weirder and more uncomfortable situation regarding coaching staff than this one right here. I have respect for P.J., but he should have given this decision more thought before signing on with the Huskies. According to HUSKIE WIRE, Doeren felt the same way:

Doeren said, "it was an unprofessional day, for sure," and there was nothing he could say to make the situation better.

"I felt like I gave P.J. a great opportunity," Doeren said. "He didn’t obviously want it. He made the decision he made. I think a lot of people probably shook their head, including myself."

I'm on P.J.'s side here. He has too much respect for the institution for a take-the-money-and-run type of situation. I struggle daily with decisions and he felt that this was the best one for the university. Eventually he will make it back to NIU as a coach, but this is just not his time. Next year could have been a disaster, had P.J. not been ready to coach an offense. Could you imagine him performing poorly and then the locals running him out of town. He would never get another chance. Despite giving me a headache, he may have solved this team one big one in the near future.

On to the next one.

The new guy is Mike Dunbar. You can read about his exploits through the Official Release, HUSKIE WIRE, the Trib and ESPN Chicago.

Dunbar is exciting considering he's coached college football for 35 years. He coached Northwestern from 2001-2006, which was right around the birth of the spread offense. He coached at Cal when they were good and at Minnesota when they had a legit offense with no defense. You wanted a spread OC? You got one of the best offensive minds in the country.

Dunbar is in his 60's, which makes me wonder how long he's going to stay coaching. After two years of turmoil with Tim Brewster, he took a year off. He coached New Mexico State in 2010, but couldn't turn that disaster of a program around. It's a smart, can't miss move, but how much coaching does Dunbar have in the tank? Or will he be the offensive guru this team needs for years to come.

Overall, it's was a great decision to bring Dunbar in and I'm glad that the P.J. fiasco is done and over with.

This year more than any other year, the NIU Huskies got some legitimate prospects that had offers to go and play with teams from bigger conferences such as the Big 10, Big East, ACC and SEC.

via media.scout.com

First off is recruit Levon Myers of Franklin, WI. Myers is a 6'6" 270 lb offensive lineman and one of the top ten players in Wisconsin. Now while the Badgers tend to recruit nationally first and then may look at their home state to fill empty spots, that didn't sit well with Myers when they offered him a scholarship just days leading up to signing day:

"Levon has decided not to accept the scholarship offer from UW," his father Marion Myers reported. "There are many reasons for this, but most of all, he felt that he did not have any real connection with anyone at UW and most of all, he should honor his commitment to NIU because he honors his word. This is how we have raised him."

Levon Myers #71 Class of 2012 (via zzaboy)

Continue reading this post »

Per FootballScoop.com:

Northern Illinois: We have learned that Rutgers receivers coach PJ Fleck will be the next offensive coordinator at NIU.

After landing one of the best recruiting classes in recent memory, the Huskies return again with some pretty amazing news. P.J. Fleck is one of the all-time greats for the NIU Huskies. He's been around the program during the glory years of the early 2000's and was also an assistant coach from 2007-09. He brings a wealth of experience from his time at Rutgers and excellent recruiting prowess. The hire couldn't have been any better.

You can read more about Fleck as I named him 'Huskie of the Decade' a couple years ago.

Today we'll be breaking down the recruiting class that has been signed by Northern Illinois for 2012. Now you can find a list of all of the signed recruits at the official site and Huskie Wire has a live blog going as well. After the jump we'll post the recruits we have profiles for and try to come up with some for those that don't. The recruits will be in alphabetical order.

It's a great class with not too many surprises other than the players that we already knew were verbals FULL OF SURPRISES to the Northern Illinois program. We'll be breaking down the class in the days to come:

OT Dustin Adams
Minot, North Dakota (Minot)
6'5" 290 lbs

Other offers: Hawaii

Rivals Profile: NR
Scout Profile: 2-stars, #153 OG
ESPN Profile: 2-stars, 74, #1 in ND, #151 OT

Youtube: [1]

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It has been two straight weeks of horrible defeats for MAC-heavy NFL teams. First the Steelers and then the Packers. Both were in the Super Bowl and both had the most MAC players. It only made sense for them to have success. However, this year is different. One team could manage to make the big game with exactly zero players from the underrated league. This would be a tragedy.

Baltimore Ravens:

Nobody. Zero. Zilch. Nada. In the land of defense, no players from the offensive-minded Mid-American Conference were chosen to be part of the Ravens scheme. However, with the addition of UMass to the East, the Ravens will get a better chance at scouting MAC players in the near future to play on their team. There is hope for the future.

New England Patriots:

DB Julian Edelman, Kent State

New York Giants:

MLB Chase Blackburn, Akron

WR Domenik Hixon, Akron (IR)

San Francisco 49ers

LT Joe Staley, Central Michigan

It's slim pickings. You've got Edelman, who used to be a WR this season. Blackburn, who just got added to the NYG roster. HIxon, who you won't see take the field. And finally Staley, a lineman that doubles as a receiver occasionally.

Let's do this.

It's official: HUSKIEWIRE.COM is reporting that former NIU linebackers coach Tom Matukewicz will now be the defensive coordinator for the Toledo Rockets.

We'll miss you Tuke! You stayed on after Kill's evil empire left for Minnesota. The 2010 Humanitarian Bowl will forever be in our heads a story of redemption and overcoming the odds. NIU fans were down, but you brought us back up with you entertaining the media with your own unique personality. You were truly the man that brought the team together after a storm of turmoil that left the team with a skeleton coaching staff.

Tuke, forever a Huskie.

You persevered the loss of two starting linebackers and molded Pat Schiller and Jordan Delegal serviceable players. We'll still love you even if you departed to the dastardly Toledo Rockets.

Tuke, forever an inspiration.

After watching that program give up 63+ points to the Huskies the past two seasons, there's nowhere to go but up at that program. Guaranteed job security! New opportunities!

Best of luck to Coach Tuke!!

Well, this news is interesting.

It's only fitting that Matt Canada stayed on Dave Doeren's staff for only one year.

He did it last time too.

After serving as a position coach at NIU for four years (RBs 1998-2000, QBs 2001-02), Canada was named offensive coordinator for the Huskies in 2003. After the Huskies went 10-2 and came close to becoming the first BCS-busters, Canada took his talents to Indiana for a significant pay increase and better opportunities. He would say there until he came back to Northern Illinois.

After another pit-stop as a MAC OC, off he goes again to the Big 10.

How will Canada leaving affect the Huskies?

2012 will be a transitional year anyways for the offense with a big change at QB and with the OL. It's probably best that they get started with an OC that's going to stay on for a while.

Canada did a pretty good job this past season leading a high-powered offense, but anybody could have coached the offense we had to be successful this past season. He was what he was, I suppose.

I wasn't a big fan, considering he got too fancy from time to time and flat-out made some bonehead calls this past season.

It should be interesting to see who Doeren brings on, but it won't be much of a drop-off in the long-run. At least I don't think so, but we'll see who is next in line.

Yet another successful season, which means talented coaches WILL depart. RBs coach Eddie Faulkner is now at Pitt and I'm hearing rumors LBs coach Tom Matukewicz is heading to Toledo.

Huskie Fans, what are your thoughts on these coaching moves?

CELEBRATING A SEASON - Northern Illinois Official Athletic Site

Huskie Wire | NIU finishes outside top 25

Huskie Wire | Going out a winner

Doeren: Huskies are ‘absolutely’ a top 25 team - Aurora Beacon News

‘Storybook ending’ for Harnish, NIU - DailyHerald.com

Northern Illinois Wraps Up Everything Rather Nicely - Hustle Belt

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NIU has the longest winning streak in the nation at 9 games. They just destroyed the Sun Bel Champions Arkansas State. But they aren't a Top-25 team? Does that make any sense? Let's look at who beat the Huskies out:

The polls are in and NIU ranks #28 in the AP poll with 33 pts, behind

#27 8-5 Auburn (40 pts)

#26 10-3 BYU (51 pts)

#25 10-3 Cincinnati (103 pts)

#24 9-4 Nebraska (143 pts)

In the USA Today/Coaches Poll the NIU Huskies rank #26 with 36 pts, behind

#25 10-3 BYU (79 pts)

#24 9-4 Nebraska (144 pts)

BYU beat 8-5 Tulsa, a team that didn't even make it's own championship game 24-21. What a joke. They stayed in on name-recognition only. Nebraska lossed to a higher-ranked South Carolina team, so I guess you can cut them some slack.

It was one of those rare seasons where there weren't too many upsets this season regarding teams in the fringe part of the Top-25.

THIS NIU squad could beat anybody. The NIU team at the beginning of the season couldn't stop anybody. The Kansas and Central Michigan losses may have been good motivation early on, but they look horrible on a resume. Not to mention not even being competitive against a Wisconsin squad that finished 10th in the nation.

Yes, the Huskies deserve to be in the Top-25 and were only two inexplicable losses away from doing so. Central Michigan didn't make the Top-25 until the last week in 2009, but they were 12-2 and were undefeated in conference play. They also beat Michigan State, a BCS victory the Huskies didn't have on their resume this year.

It's disappointing, but what are you going to do? Coach Doeren helped this team improve immensely as the season wore on. We on the MAC Championship and the Bowl game.

It's never too early to start setting goals for next year...

Arkansas State quickly went up 6-0 off of a strong kickoff return and an absurd flea flicker play that the Huskies should have been ready for. The Red Wolves watched the MAC Championship game, apparently. Then a kick catching interference led way to ASU going up 13-0 to start the game off. NIU was off on offense, the Red Wolves had come to play on D. Slow starts were nothing new to this NIU squad.

Young Guns

QB Jordan Lynch, So

The next series, the Huskies were on. Chandler Harnish threw two 33-yard strikes and the Huskies were gonna tie this one up. But no, Harnish runs off the field, limping on his ankle like some sort of wounded animal. It looked serious. Harnish, the man who's been playing for as long as I've been blogging, our MVP, was out of the game. I knew that we had more horses on offense, but he just made everything go. I was worried. This could have been Colt McCoy going down against Alabama two years ago.

In comes Jordan Lynch, who inexplicably had touched the ball three times already in failed attempts. Was Harnish beat up before the game? Is that why Lynch was getting snaps? We'll never know, but now Lynch was in for good.

7-yard loss on a sack and a missed field goal of 33 yds. We were toast.

Next drive. Lynch steps up and throws a 44-yard bomb to Martel Moore, who just had a beast of a game. Then all of a sudden a 16 yd strike to Ashford. This guy can play, I say to myself. Then he showed off his patented running back skills to juke the defender and punch it in to the endzone to go up 14-13. Harnish magically healed (he des that a lot) and entered the next series, but Lynch showed he could play.

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