Oct. 22, 2012

DeKALB, Ill. - After winning its seventh straight game last Saturday at Akron, Northern Illinois re-entered the nation's college football polls for the first time since the preseason as NIU received votes in all three polls this week.

The Huskies earned five points in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, making their first appearance in that poll since the 2011 preseason poll. NIU received 14 points in this week's USA Today Coaches Poll, up from two points last week. In this week's Harris Interactive College Football Poll, Northern Illinois had seven points, the first time the Huskies have received votes in that poll this season.

NIU has now received poll votes in each of the last three seasons, and entered the Top 25 in November 2010 when the Huskies were ranked 24th (AP) and 23rd (USA Today Coaches) prior to the MAC Championship game. At the end of last season, Northern Illinois was ranked 26th in the final two polls by USA Today, and was 28th in the final AP poll.

In winning 16 of its last 17 games and following a nine-game winning streak to end last season with seven straight wins in 2012 (after a season-opening loss), the Huskies have continued the football program's string of success. Notably...

• The Northern Illinois Huskies are one of only THREE teams in the country that have won 16 of their last 17 games. The others are Alabama and Oregon.
• Since dropping a one-point game to Iowa (18-17) at Chicago's Soldier Field in the 2012 season opener, Northern Illinois has won seven consecutive games and is bowl eligible for the fifth straight season.
• Northern Illinois' 12-game winning streak in conference games (since Oct. 1, 2011) is the longest in the nation.
• Northern Illinois has won 19 straight games at Huskie Stadium (since Sept. 26, 2009), the third-longest home winning streak in the nation.
• Northern Illinois is literally one play away from an 8-0 record as Iowa scored its lone touchdown of the season-opener on a 23-yard run on third-and-nine with 2:15 to play, giving the Hawkeyes a 18-17 victory over NIU.
• Northern Illinois finished the 2011 season on a nine-game winning streak, closed out by come-from-behind victories in the MAC Championship game (23-20, over Ohio) and the GoDaddy.com Bowl (38-20, over Arkansas State).
• NIU is one of 10 FBS schools to win 11 games in each of the last two seasons.
• NIU is 18-4 in two seasons under head coach Dave Doeren.
• Northern Illinois began 2012 with eight new starters on offense, including the entire offensive line, the tailback and the quarterback, yet ranks ninth in the nation in rushing offense.
• Junior Jordan Lynch replaced four-year starting quarterback Chandler Harnish and has rushed for 1,049 yards and 13 touchdowns on 149 carries (a 7.0-yard average) and thrown for 1,710 yards on 61.1 percent passing with 3 interceptions and 13 touchdowns. He ranks sixth in the nation in rushing and in total offense.

Northern Illinois travels to Kalamazoo, Mich. for a Saturday match-up versus Western Michigan (3-5, 1-3). Kickoff is at 11 a.m. (CT) and the game will be televised on 24 stations throughout the country by ESPN Regional, including on WPWR My50 in Chicago and WTVO ABC 17 in Rockford.

-- NIU --

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