The 2020 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 West Division 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 the

2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 151st season of college football in the United States, organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level, the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Fo ...

. Led by second-year head coach

Thomas Hammock Thomas Hammock (born July 7, 1981) is the head football coach at Northern Illinois University (NIU). Prior to returning to his alma mater in January 2019, he served as the running backs coach for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football Lea ...

in a season shorted due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the Huskies compiled an overall record of 0–6 with an identical mark in MAC play, placing last out of six teams in the West Division. It was the first winless season for the Huskies since

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

. Northern Illinois 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 ...

COVID-19 effects on season

On August 8, 2020, the MAC announced that it was postponing the 2020 football season due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The conference announced it would explore playing a season in the spring of 2021. It was the first major football conference to announce the postponement of the season. On September 25, the conference voted to reinstate the football season beginning on November 4. The conference was the last major conference to reinstate football.

Schedule

Northern Illinois had games scheduled against

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, and

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

, which were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the team played a conference-only schedule.

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 ...

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 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of college football. NIU football plays ...

College football winless seasons