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Northern Illinois

Huskies · Mountain West

Head coach Rob Harley Year 1 with Northern Illinois

Year-1 HCs (2015-2024) averaged -0.19 W vs. preseason expectation

Season Projection · 2026 W0

10,000 sims
3.7
Expected wins
4-6
Proj record
1 to 7
Win range (90%)
#124 (106–135)
Final rank (90%)
0%
Make playoff
0%
Win conference

Path to Glory

Tap a win or a loss on each pivotal game to see how the playoff probability shifts. Leave any game unset to average across both outcomes.

Make the playoff

0%

Baseline projection.

  • at Georgia State
    Away · Sep 26
  • vs Air Force
    Home · Oct 10
  • at Wyoming
    Away · Oct 17
  • vs Hawai'i
    Home · Oct 24

Pivotal games are the 5 with the largest playoff-probability swing, ranked by the model. Math: chained Bayesian log-odds update from the conditional simulation set; gets the directionally right answer but won't perfectly capture cross-game correlations until the full Monte Carlo pipeline lands.

Returning production · 2026

43 score
  • Quarterback 44% (2/5 )
  • Offensive line 61% (11/18 players)
  • Skill (RB/WR/TE) 56% (17/30 )
  • Front 7 (DL/LB) 7% (11/33 )
  • Secondary 19% (8/20 )
  • Special teams 67% (2/7 )

Share of last season's production each unit returns. Higher means more continuity: 70%+ is healthy, 45–70% a normal rebuild, under 45% a major turnover.

Portal additions · 2026

-0.9 rating

10 proven transfers in, carrying the production below from their prior school.

  • Taron Dickens QB ← Western Carolina 79 impact
  • Avery Jones DB ← Lafayette 27 impact
  • Liam Lindo CB ← Bryant 22 impact
  • Marshall Washington CB ← Long Island University 19 impact
  • Kyon Conyers S ← Long Island University 3 impact
  • Christopher Allen DT ← North Carolina A&T 1 impact

Impact scores offensive skill additions (QB/RB/WR/TE) — prior-season production normalized within position (100 ≈ a 90th-percentile producer at that spot) and discounted for non-FBS competition, so a top back counts alongside a top quarterback. Defensive and O-line additions count as transfers but aren't box-score measurable, so they carry no impact score. The rating figure is this class's portal contribution vs. the FBS average, capped at ±2.5.

If QB1 is out (Josh Holst)

GIE projects a 8.3 rating drop and a 33.0pp shift in playoff probability if Northern Illinois loses its QB1 for an extended stretch. (n=5 historical samples; pooled across recent seasons.)

Situational efficiency · 2025

FBS percentile rank
  • 3rd-down conversion 30.8% 17th — bottom tier
  • Red-zone TD rate 11.2% 22th — bottom tier
  • 4th-down aggression 44.2% 83th — strong
  • Late & close 3.5 yds/play 19th — bottom tier

Percentile is across all FBS teams with play-by-play data for the season. "Late & close" is yards per play in Q4+ with a one-score margin — a proxy for clutch offensive performance.

Schedule

Full 2026 slate. Tap a row for the matchup breakdown.

Latest Stories

  • Recap

    Northern Illinois: 2025 Week 16 recap

    Northern Illinois sits at 3–9 after dropping a close one to Kent State 35–31 at home in Week 14. The Huskies, rated at –16.7 by GIE and ranked 128th nationally, have struggled to find consistent footing this season. That loss to a…

More coming

Per-team pages get the full treatment in Phase 3: current rating, season projection histogram, schedule with win probabilities, and live overlays on Pylon stream days. For now, this page exists so stories and news have a permanent home as content rolls in.