2006 Northern Illinois Huskies football team

The 2006 Northern Illinois Huskies football team represented Northern Illinois University as a member of the West Division of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) during the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Led by 11th-year head coach Joe Novak, the Huskies compiled an overall record of 7–6 with a mark of 5–3 in conference play, tying for third place in the MAC's West Division. Northern Illinois was invited to the Poinsettia Bowl, where they lost to TCU. The team played home games at Huskie Stadium in DeKalb, Illinois.

2006 Northern Illinois Huskies football
Poinsettia Bowl, L 7–37 vs. TCU
Conference	Mid-American Conference
Division	West Division
Record	7–6 (5–3 MAC)
Head coach	Joe Novak (11th season)
Offensive coordinator	John Bond (3rd season)
Defensive coordinator	Denny Doornbos (3rd season)
MVP	Garrett Wolfe
Captain	Doug Free, Dustin Utschig, Ken West, Garrett Wolfe
Home stadium	Huskie Stadium

2006 Mid-American Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
East Division
Ohio x		7	–	1					9	–	5
Kent State		5	–	3					6	–	6
Akron		3	–	5					5	–	7
Bowling Green		3	–	5					4	–	8
Miami (OH)		2	–	6					2	–	10
Buffalo		1	–	7					2	–	10
West Division
Central Michigan x$		7	–	1					10	–	4
Western Michigan		6	–	2					8	–	5
Northern Illinois		5	–	3					7	–	6
Ball State		5	–	3					5	–	7
Toledo		3	–	5					5	–	7
Eastern Michigan		1	–	7					1	–	11
Championship: Central Michigan 31, Ohio 10
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	2:30 pm	at No. 1 Ohio State*	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	ABC	L 12–35	103,896
September 9	2:05 pm	Ohio	Huskie Stadium DeKalb, IL	CSNC	L 23–35	19,341
September 16	6:35 pm	Buffalo	Huskie Stadium DeKalb, IL	CSNC	W 31–13	21,117
September 22	4:00 pm	Indiana State*	Huskie Stadium DeKalb, IL	CSNC	W 48–14	19,720
September 30	5:30 pm	at Ball State	Scheumann Stadium Muncie, IN (rivalry)	CSNC	W 40–28	10,128
October 8	7:00 pm	at Miami (OH)	Yager Stadium Oxford, OH	ESPN	W 28–25	12,197
October 14	1:00 pm	at Western Michigan	Waldo Stadium Kalamazoo, MI	ESPN Plus	L 14–16	19,275
October 21	2:05 pm	Temple*	Huskie Stadium DeKalb, IL	CSNC	W 43–21	27,039
October 28	6:00 pm	at Iowa*	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA	ESPNU	L 14–24	70,585
November 7	6:30 pm	Toledo	Huskie Stadium DeKalb, IL	ESPN2	L 13–17	19,267
November 17	7:05 pm	Central Michigan	Huskie Stadium DeKalb, IL	ESPNU	W 31–10	18,139
November 24	11:00 am	at Eastern Michigan	Rynearson Stadium Ypsilanti, MI	CSNC	W 27–0	8,937
December 19	7:00 pm	vs. No. 25 TCU*	Qualcomm Stadium San Diego, CA (Poinsettia Bowl)	ESPN2	L 7–37	29,709
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time