The 2013 Northern Illinois Huskies football team represented

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois. It was founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895, by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld as part of an expansion of the state's system ...

as a member of the West Division of the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

(MAC) during the

2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season began on August 29, 2013 and ended on Dece ...

. Led by first-year head coach

Rod Carey Roderick Charles Carey (born July 24, 1971) is an American football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at Northern Illinois University from 2012 to 2018 and Temple University from 2019 to 2021. Early years Carey was bo ...

, the Huskies compiled an overall record of 12–2 with a mark of 8–0 in conference play, won the MAC West Division title, and advanced to the

MAC Championship Game The MAC Football Championship Game is a football game between the winners of the East and West divisions of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) to determine the conference champion. History The game has been played since 1997, when the conferenc ...

, where they lost to East Division champion

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on ...

. Northern Illinois was invited to the

Poinsettia Bowl The Poinsettia Bowl was a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played in San Diego, California, United States from 2005 to 2016. The game was originally played from 1952 to 1955 between military service ...

, where they lost to

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

. The team played home games at

Huskie Stadium Brigham Field at Huskie Stadium is a college football stadium in the central United States, located on the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. Opened in 1965, it is the home field of the NIU Huskies of the Mid-America ...

DeKalb, Illinois DeKalb ( ) is a city in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States. The population was 43,862 according to the 2010 census, up from 39,018 at the 2000 census. The city is named after decorated Franconian- French war hero Johann de Kalb, who died ...

. Fresh off their

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in th ...

appearance the previous season, the Huskies went undefeated until the MAC Championship Game. This garnered national attention with the anticipation of another

Bowl Championship Series The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of American college football, including ...

(BCS) bowl appearance. Starting quarterback

Jordan Lynch Jordan Lynch (born October 3, 1990) is a former American football quarterback and running back. After playing college football at Northern Illinois, where he was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy in 2013, and going undrafted in the 2014 NFL Draft, ...

finished third in voting for the

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

. The season marked the Huskies' sixth consecutive trip to a

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

and their second consecutive bowl game loss.

Schedule

Rankings

Roster

Game summaries

Iowa

Sources: Jordan Lynch threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more, as the team came away with their second win of the season. ----

Eastern Illinois

Sources: Jordan Lynch threw for 207 yards and three touchdowns, and Northern Illinois scored on a kickoff return and an interception return to rout Purdue 55–24. It's the first time a Mid-American Conference team has beaten two Big Ten foes during the same regular season, and the Huskies made it look easy, tying the MAC record for victory margin over a Big Ten school. Toledo beat Minnesota by 31 in 2001. ----

Kent State

Sources: Cameron Stingily ran for a career-high 266 yards and two scores as Northern Illinois remained undefeated with a 38–24 win over Kent State. ----

Akron

Sources: The Huskies used their defense and kicking game to beat Akron 27–20 on Saturday night after the offense went 1 for 15 on third-down conversions. ----

Central Michigan

Sources: Lynch had three rushing touchdowns and was 20 for 30 through the air for 155 yards and another score to help Northern Illinois (7–0, 3–0 Mid-American) extend the nation's best conference winning streak to 20 games. Lynch rushed for 316 yards, an FBS record for a quarterback, and the 23rd-ranked Huskies stayed unbeaten with a 38–17 victory at Central Michigan. ----

Eastern Michigan

Sources: ----

UMass

Sources: ----

Ball State

Sources: ----

Toledo

Sources: ----

Western Michigan

Sources: ----

Bowling Green (
MAC Championship Game The MAC Football Championship Game is a football game between the winners of the East and West divisions of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) to determine the conference champion. History The game has been played since 1997, when the conferenc ...
)

Sources: ----

Utah State (
Poinsettia Bowl The Poinsettia Bowl was a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played in San Diego, California, United States from 2005 to 2016. The game was originally played from 1952 to 1955 between military service ...
)

Sources: ----

Awards

:Jamaal Bass *All-MAC First Team Outside Linebacker :Ken Bishop *All-MAC First Team Down Lineman *2x MAC West Division Defensive Player of the Week (Weeks 3, 10) :Da'Ron Brown *All-MAC Second Team Wide Receiver :Rod Carey *MAC Coach of the Year :Dechane Durante *All-MAC Third Team Defensive Back :Tommylee Lewis *All-MAC First Team Wide Receiver *1x MAC West Division Offensive Player of the Week (Week 3) *1x MAC West Division Special Teams Player of the Week (Week 5) :Tyler Loos *All-MAC First Team Offensive Lineman :Jordan Lynch *Vern Smith Leadership Award *MAC Offensive Player of the Year *All-MAC First Team Quarterback *7x MAC West Division Offensive Player of the Week (Weeks 1, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12, 13) :Mathew Sims *1x MAC West Division Special Teams Player of the Week (Week 1) :Cameron Stingily *1x MAC West Division Offensive Player of the Week (Week 6) :Jared Volk *All-MAC Second Team Offensive Lineman :Jimmie Ward *All-MAC First Team Defensive Back :Joe Windsor *All-MAC Third Team Down Lineman

References

{{Northern Illinois Huskies football navbox

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by th ...

Northern Illinois Huskies football seasons

Northern Illinois Huskies football The Northern Illinois Huskies football team are a college football program representing Northern Illinois University (NIU) in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of college football. NIU football plays its home games at Huskie Stadium on the cam ...

Schedule

Rankings

Roster

Game summaries

Iowa

Eastern Illinois

Kent State

Akron

Central Michigan

Eastern Michigan

UMass

Ball State

Toledo

Western Michigan

Bowling Green (MAC Championship Game The MAC Football Championship Game is a football game between the winners of the East and West divisions of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) to determine the conference champion. History The game has been played since 1997, when the conferenc ...)

Utah State (Poinsettia Bowl The Poinsettia Bowl was a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played in San Diego, California, United States from 2005 to 2016. The game was originally played from 1952 to 1955 between military service ...)

Awards

References

Bowling Green (
MAC Championship Game The MAC Football Championship Game is a football game between the winners of the East and West divisions of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) to determine the conference champion. History The game has been played since 1997, when the conferenc ...
)

Utah State (
Poinsettia Bowl The Poinsettia Bowl was a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played in San Diego, California, United States from 2005 to 2016. The game was originally played from 1952 to 1955 between military service ...
)