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1997 Northern Illinois

0–⁠11 (0–⁠8 Mid-American Conference), coached by Joe Novak.

Schedule and results

Northern Illinois in 1997, game by game: lost at Central Michigan 10–44; lost vs. No. 21 Kansas State 7–47; lost vs. Western Michigan 13–21; lost at NC State 14–41; lost at Bowling Green 10–35; lost vs. Vanderbilt 7–17; lost at Toledo 14–41; lost vs. Ball State 14–21; lost vs. Ohio 30–35; lost vs. Eastern Michigan 10–38; lost at Miami (OH) 0–42+7−42Lost 10–44 at Central Michigan-34Central MichiganLost 7–47 vs. No. 21 Kansas State-40No. 21 Kansas StateLost 13–21 vs. Western Michigan-8Western MichiganLost 14–41 at NC State-27NC StateLost 10–35 at Bowling Green-25Bowling GreenLost 7–17 vs. Vanderbilt-10VanderbiltLost 14–41 at Toledo-27ToledoLost 14–21 vs. Ball State-7Ball StateLost 30–35 vs. Ohio-5OhioLost 10–38 vs. Eastern Michigan-28Eastern MichiganLost 0–42 at Miami (OH)-42Miami (OH)
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Aug 28atCentral MichiganL 10–⁠4421%
Sep 6vs21Kansas StateL 7–⁠4715%
Sep 13vsWestern MichiganL 13–⁠2137%
Sep 20atNC StateL 14–⁠4116%
Oct 4atBowling GreenL 10–⁠3520%
Oct 11vsVanderbiltL 7–⁠1732%
Oct 18atToledoL 14–⁠418%
Oct 25vsBall StateL 14–⁠2132%
Nov 1vsOhioL 30–⁠3513%
Nov 8vsEastern MichiganL 10–⁠3831%
Nov 15atMiami (OH)L 0–⁠425%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Miami (OH) 42–⁠0; unranked in the final AP poll; 12th in the Mid-American Conference.

In program history: The 57th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 61 on file).

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1997.

Record
0–⁠11
Conference
0–⁠8 12th in Mid-American Conference
AP final
Unranked
Points
129–⁠382
Coach
Joe Novak
Elo
1166 −118 this season
SP+ rating
-23.6 No. 109 of 112; offense No. 109, defense No. 93
SRS
−23.1 No. 108 of 112 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Captains
Kent Booth, Jamie Macdonald and Steve Smith
Most valuable player
Deon Mitchell and Steve Smith

1997 Mid-American Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Marshall7–⁠110–⁠3
Toledo7–⁠19–⁠3
Western Michigan6–⁠28–⁠3
Miami (OH)6–⁠28–⁠3
Ohio6–⁠28–⁠3
Ball State4–⁠45–⁠6
Eastern Michigan4–⁠54–⁠7
Bowling Green3–⁠53–⁠8
Kent State3–⁠53–⁠8
Akron2–⁠72–⁠9
Central Michigan1–⁠72–⁠9
Northern Illinois0–⁠80–⁠11

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.