BS
NIRivalry History
Ball State-Northern Illinois
Ball State and Northern Illinois have met 53 times since 1941. This page keeps the record, streaks, trophy context, and recent results in one canonical rivalry URL.
Series snapshot
- Record
- 24-24-1
- Current streak
- Northern Illinois 1 game
- Longest streak
- Northern Illinois 10 games (2009-2018)
- Avg. margin / points
- 14.0 / 49.7
Series overview
Ball State 24-24-1 Northern Illinois. Current streak: Northern Illinois 1 game.
Last five meetings
Ball State 3 | Northern Illinois 2
Largest margin
46 points
Rivalry notes
- The tracked window runs from 1941 through 2025.
- 49 completed games currently back the series calculations on this page.
- The latest tracked meeting was Oct 25, 2025.
Related pages
Move from rivalry history into team-level seasons, rosters, and archives.
Rivalry guide
What this rivalry is
Ball State and Northern Illinois have a tracked series that starts in 1941 and spans 53 listed meetings. The page combines series record, streaks, recent games, and research links in one canonical rivalry URL.
Bronze Stalk Trophy gives this matchup a named trophy context in addition to the team-by-team series record.
Series history
- Status
- Active series
- Years
- 1941-2025
- Busiest era
- 2000s, 10 games
- Longest pause
- 8 years (1988-1997)
- 2000s10 games
- 2010s10 games
- 1970s9 games
- 1980s9 games
Biggest games and recent trend
Landmark games are selected from the same tracked rivalry results used for the series record.
4 featured games
Latest meeting
2025 - Oct 25, 2025
Ball State 7, Northern Illinois 21. Most recent completed chapter in the tracked series.
Closest finish
1971 - Oct 23, 1971
Ball State 10, Northern Illinois 10. The smallest final-score margin in the available game log.
Highest scoring
2015 - Oct 10, 2015
Ball State 41, Northern Illinois 59. The biggest combined scoring total in the available game log.
Largest margin
2017 - Nov 10, 2017
Ball State 17, Northern Illinois 63. The widest final-score gap in the available game log.
Recent trend
- Last five
- Ball State 3, Northern Illinois 2 across 5 games
- Last ten
- Ball State 5, Northern Illinois 5 across 10 games
- Scoring profile
- Balanced scoring profile; average total 49.7, average margin 14.0.
- Current streak
- Northern Illinois 1 game
Players and coaches from recent chapters
Recent leaders are capped to keep the page fast while still pointing readers toward the names around recent meetings.
Kiael Kelly
Ball State, 2025
Passing Yards: 1560
Kiael Kelly
Ball State, 2025
Rushing Yards: 608
Qian Magwood
Ball State, 2025
Receiving Yards: 320
Chavon Wright
Northern Illinois, 2025
Rushing Yards: 875
DeAree Rogers
Northern Illinois, 2025
Receiving Yards: 506
Josh Holst
Northern Illinois, 2025
Passing Yards: 689
Coach context
Coach rows summarize recent rivalry-season overlap for each program.
Thomas Hammock
Northern Illinois - 2021-2025 - 27-25
Mike Neu
Ball State - 2021-2024 - 18-29
Mike Uremovich
Ball State - 2025 - 0-0
Colin Johnson
Ball State - 2024 - 0-2
Weather, rankings, and research links
5 recent rivalry games have weather context, average temperature 57F, 1 windy.
Ranking context is available through the rankings archive and team season-result pages.
Ball State team page
Team history, seasons, roster context, and related data views.
Northern Illinois team page
Team history, seasons, roster context, and related data views.
Ball State season results
Season-by-season schedules, records, rankings, and game links.
Northern Illinois season results
Season-by-season schedules, records, rankings, and game links.
Ball State weather
Weather impact for games involving this program.
Northern Illinois weather
Weather impact for games involving this program.
Game stats archive
Search box scores and detailed game stat pages.
Rankings
Poll and ranking context around rivalry seasons.
College football records
National record and history context.
Historical comparison
Compare program seasons and statistical profiles.
Recent rivalry results
The latest games are rendered in the page HTML so search engines and readers can see the rivalry's recent chapter without client-side interaction.
10 most recent tracked games
| Date | Matchup | Score | Venue | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 25, 2025 | Ball State at Northern Illinois | Ball State 7, Northern Illinois 21 | Huskie Stadium | Northern Illinois |
| Oct 26, 2024 | Northern Illinois at Ball State | Ball State 25, Northern Illinois 23 | Venue unavailable | Ball State |
| Nov 8, 2023 | Ball State at Northern Illinois | Ball State 20, Northern Illinois 17 | Venue unavailable | Ball State |
| Oct 1, 2022 | Northern Illinois at Ball State | Ball State 44, Northern Illinois 38 | Venue unavailable | Ball State |
| Nov 11, 2021 | Ball State at Northern Illinois | Ball State 29, Northern Illinois 30 | Venue unavailable | Northern Illinois |
| Nov 19, 2020 | Northern Illinois at Ball State | Ball State 31, Northern Illinois 25 | Venue unavailable | Ball State |
| Oct 5, 2019 | Ball State at Northern Illinois | Ball State 27, Northern Illinois 20 | Venue unavailable | Ball State |
| Oct 6, 2018 | Northern Illinois at Ball State | Ball State 16, Northern Illinois 24 | Venue unavailable | Northern Illinois |
| Nov 10, 2017 | Ball State at Northern Illinois | Ball State 17, Northern Illinois 63 | Venue unavailable | Northern Illinois |
| Oct 1, 2016 | Northern Illinois at Ball State | Ball State 24, Northern Illinois 31 | Venue unavailable | Northern Illinois |
Next best actions
Keep exploring Ball State-Northern Illinois
Move from the rivalry story into schedules, comparison, and a shareable next step without returning to search.