Northern Illinois Football: Can Huskies return to MAC contention in 2021?

Starting in 2010, Northern Illinois football became a decade where they dominated the MAC and left little room for anyone else in the league.

Over the last two seasons, however, the Huskies have fallen off a bit and gone 5-13, including an 0-6 mark in an abbreviated 2020 season. This is a program that is used to success and another losing season will not be looked upon well.

Jerry Kill revived the program when he first took the head coaching in 2008, going 6-7 and then 7-6 in 2009. In 2010, however, Kill jumpstarted the program and started the greatest run in program history by going 10-3 before he left for the Minnesota job. When Dave Doeren took over the program in 2011, he continued what Kill started and went 11-3 and then 12-1 in 2012 before taking the job at NC State, where he still is the head coach.

After taking the job in 2013, Rod Carey proceeded to win double-digit wins in both 2013 and 2014. Since then, the program has taken a bit of a step back and after Carey left for the Temple job, current head coach Thomas Hammock has not had the success of his predecessors.

This is going to be a pivotal year for Hammock to show that he can keep the success of the previous three head coach going. The Huskies had been going with a youth movement in recent seasons, but NIU has brought in some transfers this past offseason, headlined by former Michigan State quarterback Rocky Lombardi.

Despite going 0-6 last season, the Huskies were pretty competitive in half of those games and the program has a track record of success. This is a team that is under a bit of pressure to show improvement this season or Hammock might be out of a job.