The 1983 Northern Illinois Huskies football team represented

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois, United States. It was founded as "Northern Illinois State Normal School" in 1895 by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld, initially to provide the state with c ...

as a member of the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

(MAC) during

1983 NCAA Division I-A football season The 1983 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with the University of Miami, led by Bernie Kosar, winning their first national championship over perennial power and top ranked Nebraska in the Orange Bowl. The Hurricanes' 31–30 win over Neb ...

. Led by

Bill Mallory William Guy Mallory (May 30, 1935 – May 25, 2018) was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio from 1969 to 1973, the University of Colorado at Boulder from 1974 t ...

in his fourth and final season as head coach, the Huskies compiled an overall record of 10–2 with a mark of 8–1 in conference play, winning he MAC title. Northern Illinois was invited to the

California Bowl The California Bowl (later the California Raisin Bowl) was a post-season college football bowl game played annually at Bulldog Stadium in Fresno, California, from 1981 to 1991. The game featured the champions of the Big West Conference (known ...

, where they beat played

Cal State Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public research university in Fullerton, California, United States. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the California State ...

. The team played home games at

Huskie Stadium Brigham Field at Huskie Stadium is a college football stadium 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-American Conference (MAC). Location ...

DeKalb, Illinois DeKalb ( ) is a city in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States. The population was 40,290 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is named after decorated Franconian-French war hero Johann de Kalb, who died during the Ameri ...

. The Huskies won their conference championship since 1965, since the 1965 team won the

Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) was a college athletic conference that existed from 1908 to 1970 in the United States. At one time the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, or IIAC, was a robust league that cla ...

(IIAC) title during the final years of the conference's existence. The Huskies' trip to the California Bowl was also their first

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

since 1965 and first bowl win since the 1963 team won the

Mineral Water Bowl The Mineral Water Bowl was an annual American NCAA Division II college football bowl game held in Excelsior Springs, Missouri at Tiger Stadium. Throughout its long history (1948 to 2019), the game was sponsored by the Quarterback Club, a civic ...

and was ranked atop the AP small college football rankings.

Schedule

References

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 ...

Northern Illinois Huskies football seasons Mid-American Conference football champion seasons

Northern Illinois Huskies football The Northern Illinois Huskies football team are a college football program representing Northern Illinois University (NIU) in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of college football. NIU football plays ...

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