Northern Illinois Schedules Home-and-Home Series With UNLV Starting In 2014

The Huskies are heading out west to Sin City next fall. Northern Illinois announced Wednesday that the football team has agreed to a home-and-home series with UNLV starting next season. The Huskies head to Las Vegas next fall to play the Runnin Rebels in Sam Boyd Stadium on Sept. 13, 2014, and will play host to them at Huskie Stadium on Sept. 5, 2015.

The meetings will mark the first time these two schools have meet since 1995, when they were both members of the Big West conference. UNLV, now a member of the Mountain West Conference, has had a rocky past few seasons, but is off to a solid 4-2 start this season. Northern Illinois has flourished since joining the MAC.

The deal with UNLV replaces a previously scheduled game with Wake Forest, and completes NIU's non-conference schedule for next season. The Huskies open their series at home Saturday, Aug. 30 against FCS Presbyterian, then heads on the road to face Northwestern (Sept. 6), UNLV (Sept. 13) and Arkansas (Sept. 20). The three road non-conference games mean NIU will only have five games at home next season.

The Huskies have had trouble scheduling non-conference games at home, largely due to their success at Huskie Stadium. NIU has won 23 straight home games, the nations longest running current home-winning streak. With Northern Illinois' win over Akron at home this past Saturday it took sole possession of the record for the MAC's longest home winning streak.