NIU announces football series with UNLV

DeKALB — Northern Illinois University and UNLV will play a home-and-home football series in 2014 and 2015, completing the Huskies’ nonconference schedule for 2014, school officials announced Wednesday.

NIU and UNLV will play at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas on Sept. 13, 2014 with the Rebels making a return trip to DeKalb and Huskie Stadium on Sept. 5, 2015.

The games will be the fourth and fifth played between the schools, and the first since 1995. NIU has defeated the Rebels in all three previous meetings.

The Huskies will open the 2014 campaign at Huskie Stadium on Thursday, Aug. 28, against Presbyterian College, a member of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) from the Big South Conference. On Saturday, Sept. 6, NIU takes on Northwestern at Ryan Field in Evanston. The game will be the first between the teams since 2005. The Huskies travel to Las Vegas for the game with UNLV on Sept. 13, and close out their nonconference slate at Arkansas on Sept. 20.

“Las Vegas is certainly an attractive destination and the game there enables us to promote the NIU brand in a different part of the country against a quality Mountain West opponent, said Sean T. Frazier, NIU associate vice-president and director of athletics.

Frazier said he is working to bring balance to NIU’s future nonconference schedules that will ensure the Huskies play a minimum of six games in DeKalb. NIU is also pursuing future contests at Soldier Field.