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Northern Illinois vs Northwestern Timeline

Explore every documented meeting, final score and season in the recorded history between Northern Illinois and Northwestern.

PROGRAM ONENorthern Illinois1 recorded wins
HEAD TO HEAD1–6–1WINS · LOSSES · TIES
PROGRAM TWONorthwestern6 recorded wins
8Recorded meetings
1975Earliest documented
2014Most recent season
1Tied games
THE RIVALRY THROUGH TIME

Head-to-head timeline

Meetings are listed oldest first. Scores and dates reflect the available historical records.

8 games
  1. 1975
    Northern Illinois3 — 10Northwestern
    Sep 20, 1975Northwestern won
  2. 1982
    Northern Illinois6 — 31Northwestern
    Sep 25, 1982Northwestern won
  3. 1985
    Northern Illinois16 — 38Northwestern
    Sep 28, 1985Northwestern won
  4. 1987
    Northern Illinois16 — 16Northwestern
    Sep 26, 1987Tie
  5. 1990
    Northern Illinois7 — 24Northwestern
    Sep 29, 1990Northwestern won
  6. 2000
    Northern Illinois17 — 35Northwestern
    Aug 31, 2000Northwestern won
  7. 2005
    Northern Illinois37 — 38Northwestern
    Sep 10, 2005Northwestern wonRyan Field
  8. 2014
    Northern Illinois23 — 15Northwestern
    Sep 6, 2014Northern Illinois wonRyan Field
THE COMPLETE SCOREBOOK

All recorded results

The latest documented meeting appears first.

SeasonMatchupScoreOutcome
2014Northern Illinois vs Northwestern23–15Northern Illinois won
2005Northern Illinois vs Northwestern37–38Northwestern won
2000Northern Illinois vs Northwestern17–35Northwestern won
1990Northern Illinois vs Northwestern7–24Northwestern won
1987Northern Illinois vs Northwestern16–16Tie
1985Northern Illinois vs Northwestern16–38Northwestern won
1982Northern Illinois vs Northwestern6–31Northwestern won
1975Northern Illinois vs Northwestern3–10Northwestern won
OUR DATA STANDARD

Sources and historical coverage

These results are compiled from season-by-season records imported from CollegeFootballData. Only games with both final scores are counted. Older seasons and some lower-division records may be incomplete; the earliest documented year is not necessarily the first meeting ever played.

Page updated November 7, 2026 · Historical records are subject to correction.