2026 Northern Illinois Strength of Schedule
How tough Northern Illinois’ schedule has been, and what’s still ahead.
Updated Oct 22, 2026, 4:33 AM ET
Schedule strength
Measured by the average power rank of the opponents.
- Played
- Remaining
Toughest stretch · Weeks 9–12
- Wk 9@ UNLV#73
- Wk 10@ SJSU#116
- Wk 11NEV#124
- Wk 12@ NDSU#61
Average opponent rank 93.5
Record by opponent strength
Opponents by their current place in our power rankings.
- vs Top third (1–46)
- 0-2
- Road 0-2
- vs Middle (47–92)
- 0-1
- 2 left · 2 on road
- vs Bottom (93–138)
- 0-2
- 4 left · 1 on road
Mountain West conference schedule comparison
SoS Rk is league-wide, 1 = hardest. Opp Rk is the average power rank of the opponents.
| Played | Remaining | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | ||||
 Wyoming4-3 | 138 | 112.5 | 85 | 85.6 |
 Nevada2-4 | 129 | 101.4 | tied for 88 | 88.0 |
 San José State4-3 | 122 | 94.8 | 91 | 89.0 |
 Air Force5-1 | 123 | 95.8 | 97 | 93.7 |
 New Mexico5-1 | 134 | 103.8 | 98 | 94.8 |
 UTEP1-6 | 72 | 70.3 | 111 | 102.6 |
 Northern Illinois0-6 | 65 | 64.8 | 117 | 105.7 |
 UNLV4-3 | 108 | 87.9 | tied for 121 | 109.4 |
 North Dakota State6-1 | 131 | 102.7 | 129 | 114.0 |
 Hawai'i1-6 | 109 | 88.3 | 134 | 118.4 |
- SoS Rk
- Strength of schedule rank, league-wide (1 = hardest)
- Opp Rk
- Average Opponent Rank