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1999 Northern Illinois

5–⁠6 (5–⁠3 Mid-American Conference), coached by Joe Novak.

Schedule and results

Northern Illinois in 1999, game by game: lost vs. Western Illinois 21–27; lost at Vanderbilt 31–34; lost at Iowa 0–24; lost vs. Western Michigan 21–24; won at Buffalo 45–21; won vs. Ball State 37–17; won at Central Michigan 31–27; won vs. Kent State 50–7; lost at No. 13 Marshall 9–41; lost at Toledo 14–44; won vs. Eastern Michigan 30–23+43−32Lost 21–27 vs. Western Illinois-6Western IllinoisLost 31–34 at Vanderbilt-3VanderbiltLost 0–24 at Iowa-24IowaLost 21–24 vs. Western Michigan-3Western MichiganWon 45–21 at Buffalo+24BuffaloWon 37–17 vs. Ball State+20Ball StateWon 31–27 at Central Michigan+4Central MichiganWon 50–7 vs. Kent State+43Kent StateLost 9–41 at No. 13 Marshall-32No. 13 MarshallLost 14–44 at Toledo-30ToledoWon 30–23 vs. Eastern Michigan+7Eastern Michigan
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 2vsWestern IllinoisL 21–⁠2765%
Sep 11atVanderbiltL 31–⁠3434%
Sep 18atIowaL 0–⁠2428%
Sep 25vsWestern MichiganL 21–⁠2429%
Oct 2atBuffaloW 45–⁠2144%
Oct 9vsBall StateW 37–⁠1762%
Oct 16atCentral MichiganW 31–⁠2732%
Oct 23vsKent StateW 50–⁠772%
Oct 30at13MarshallL 9–⁠4111%
Nov 13atToledoL 14–⁠4431%
Nov 20vsEastern MichiganW 30–⁠2354%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Eastern Michigan 30–⁠23; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 4th in the Mid-American Conference.

In program history: The 40th-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 1999.

Record
5–⁠6
Conference
5–⁠3 tied for 4th in Mid-American Conference
AP final
Unranked
Points
289–⁠289
Coach
Joe Novak
Elo
1368 +35 this season
SP+ rating
-14.5 No. 98 of 114; offense No. 84, defense No. 96
SRS
−10.6 No. 93 of 114 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Offensive coordinator
Dan Roushar
Captains
Donnavan Carter, Ryan Diem, Chris Finlen, Lamain Rucker and Mike Stack
Most valuable player
William Andrews and Donnavan Carter

1999 Mid-American Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Marshall8–⁠013–⁠010
Miami (OH)6–⁠27–⁠4
Western Michigan6–⁠27–⁠5
Akron5–⁠37–⁠4
Toledo5–⁠36–⁠5
Northern Illinois5–⁠35–⁠6
Ohio5–⁠35–⁠6
Eastern Michigan4–⁠44–⁠7
Bowling Green3–⁠55–⁠6
Central Michigan3–⁠54–⁠7
Kent State2–⁠62–⁠9
Buffalo0–⁠80–⁠11
Ball State0–⁠80–⁠11

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