Joel Bouagnon
Northern Illinois University will play American Athletic Conference opponent Tulsa in football in 2022 and 2023.
Sean T. Frazier, NIU associate vice president and director of Athletics, made the announcement Tuesday as NIU kicked off its “SchedulePalooza Encore” featuring a series of football scheduling announcements this week.
The series will begin Sept. 10, 2022 in Tulsa when the Huskies visit Skelly Field at H.A. Chapman Stadium for the first time. On Sept. 23, 2023, the Golden Hurricane will come to Huskie Stadium. NIU and Tulsa have not previously met on the football field and Tulsa is the first opponent from the AAC currently on the schedule.
“This is a great start to the SchedulePalooza Encore,” Frazier said. “In this era of the College Football Playoff, it’s important to have teams from other Group of 5 leagues on our schedule, and this series with Tulsa accomplishes that goal. These games are a long way down the road, but it shows just how far in advance we are working in terms of our football schedules.”
NIU revealed four new home-and-home football series every day between July 29 and Aug. 1 during the original #SchedulePalooza, which took part of its name from the famous annual Chicago summer music event featuring multiple big-time acts.
Over four days, NIU announced future games with San Diego State in 2016 (home) and 2017 (away), Utah in 2018 (home) and 2019 (away), BYU in 2018 (away) and 2020 (home) and Maryland in 2020 (away) and 2021 (home). The Huskies also announced a series with Boston College in 2015 (away) and 2016 or 2017 (home).
After enjoying an open date this weekend, the 2014 NIU Huskies (3-1) open Mid-American Conference play Saturday, Oct. 4, in Huskie Stadium versus Kent State in the first of three straight home games. Since opening the season at home on Aug. 28, NIU has been on the road; the Huskies will play host to Central Michigan (Oct. 11) and Miami (Oct. 18) with the Oct. 11 game designated as the school’s 108th Homecoming game. The Kent State and Central Michigan contests will both kick off at 4 p.m. (CT).
For more information on NIU football and Huskie athletics, visit www.niuhuskies.com.
