By Fred Mitchell
Northern Illinois will open its 2010 football campaign at Iowa State on Sept. 2, in Ames, Iowa.
The Huskies will face four opponents who played in bowl games last season. NIU travels to in-state foe Illinois in Champaign on Sept. 18, and then Minnesota the following weekend.
"Scheduling is a difficult process and a lot of things go into it," said coach Jerry Kill, who enters his third year at Northern Illinois. "As a coaching staff and a team, we play who is on the schedule. You'd like not to play four of the first five on the road, but we're looking forward to the first game at Iowa State and that's what we're concentrating on."
NIU also added Mid-American Conference East opponents Akron, Temple and Buffalo to its usual MAC West lineup.
"There's no question the MAC will be extremely competitive again in 2010," said Kill. "People like to focus on the non-conference schedule, and those games in the first month of the season are important and will present a big challenge for our team, but our goal every year is to win our league."
NORTHERN ILLINOIS HUSKIES
2010 Football Schedule
Day, Date Opponent Site Time
Thurs., Sept. 2 at Iowa State Ames, Iowa TBA
Sat., Sept. 11 NORTH DAKOTA DeKALB, Ill. TBA
Sat., Sept. 18 at Illinois Champaign, Ill. TBA
Sat., Sept. 25 at Minnesota Minneapolis, Minn. TBA
Sat., Oct. 2 at Akron* Akron, Ohio TBA
Sat., Oct. 9 TEMPLE* DeKALB, Ill. TBA
Sat., Oct. 16 BUFFALO* DeKALB, Ill. TBA
Sat., Oct. 23 CENTRAL MICHIGAN* DeKALB, Ill. TBA
Sat., Oct. 30 at Western Michigan* Kalamazoo, Mich. TBA
Tues., Nov. 9 TOLEDO* (ESPN2) DeKALB, Ill. 6 p.m.
Sat., Nov. 20 at Ball State* Muncie, Ind. TBA
Fri., Nov. 26 at Eastern Michigan*(ESPNU/ESPN360.com^) Ypsilanti, Mich. TBA
Fri., Dec. 3 Marathon MAC Championship (ESPN2) Detroit, Mich. 7 p.m.
Home games in BOLD, ALL CAPS, played at Huskie Stadium.
*Mid-American Conference Game. Schedule Subject to Change. Times
listed are Central (CT).
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