Welcome to the 2025 college football preseason!
Offseason hibernation is over. The days are getting longer, but time is getting shorter until Ireland gets introduced to Farmaggedon. Now is the time to start learning about teams for 2025, whether it’s the new QB for the reigning National Champion Ohio State Buckeyes or who has the best chance to win Conference-USA. This series will cover my top 100 preseason teams for 2025 as we count down 100 days until Week 0. We will dive into a new team each day as we draw closer to the college football season.
Countdown to Kickoff: Day 95
Coming in at No. 95 in our 2025 preseason rankings: Northern Illinois Huskies.
Hawaii is coached by Thomas Hammock, who is in his 7th year with the program and has a program record of 31-38. Northern Illinois finished the 2024 season with a record of 8-5 and 6th in the Mid-American Conference.
Northern Illinois loses the most experience in FBS and returns only 23% of production from the 2024 team: 25% on the Offense and 22% on the Defense. According to 247Sports, the Huskies finished the 2025 cycle landing 30 recruits and ending the recruiting cycle with the 84th overall ranked class, which was good for 3rd in the MAC. Along with their high school recruiting, Northern Illinois has brought in 13 players through the transfer portal and has a portal ranking of 124. 32% of the 2025 roster will be made up of new additions.
Offensive Coordinator Wesley Beschorner, heading into his second year with the program, is looking to boost an offense that put up 22.3 points per game last season (102nd nationally). The Huskies finished 2024 with 73.3 plays per game (18th) and a pace of 27.4 seconds per play (97th). The offense averaged 43.4 runs (7th) for 194.8 per game (21st), along with 28.4 pass attempts (90th) for 160.5 yards per game (122nd). The offense was reliant on the run, with a 59%-41% run-pass play call split. The overall offensive success rate was 42%.
Up front, NIU brings back 25% of its offensive line production from last year, including one clear-cut starter for 2025. With 2024 starting quarterback Ethan Hampton transferring to Illinois, Josh Holst will compete with summer transfer Jackson Proctor for the starting position during fall camp. In 2024, Hampton finished as the 94th-ranked fantasy QB with 13.7 fantasy points per game. In 75% of games, Hampton passed for at least 105 yards and 1 touchdown to score at least 11.8 fantasy points, with a season high of 47.2 and a low of -4.3. The new starting quarterback will be tasked with improving the team’s 40% passing success rate from last season.
The Huskies will rely on pass catcher Dane Pardridge to step up this year with the departure of the top 4 receivers from 2024. Regressing since his breakout 2021 season, 2024 leader Trayvon Rudolph totaled 392 yards and 1 touchdown and led the team with 37 receptions last year. His best game was against FCS Western Illinois, where he caught 4 passes for 104 yards and 1 touchdown and added 67 yards and 1 touchdown on the ground.
With the departure of senior running backs Gavin Williams and Antario Brown, the Huskies’ backfield returns 47% of rushing production from last year. Northern Illinois will look to Telly Johnson Jr. to improve in his second year in the system. The 3 backs each had 100+ carries in 2024: Williams finished with 139 carries for 749 yards and 4 TDs, Brown ended his last year with 115 carries for 567 yards and 4 TDs, and Johnson began his career with 103 carries for 480 yards and 4 TDs.
Hawaii enters 2025 with the 130th-ranked strength of schedule. The Huskies will play in front of the home crowd 6 times, with back-to-back home games in Weeks 5 and 6 and Weeks 13 and 14.
Our model predicts a 6-6 record for NIU. Our model gives the team a 75+% win expectancy in 3 games, a 50-75% win expectancy in 4 games, a 25-50% win expectancy in 1 game, and a <25% win expectancy in 4 games.
The Huskies are projected to finish sixth in the Mountain West, based on their conference championship odds of +1200.
Thanks for reading! Be sure to return tomorrow as we continue the countdown with Team 94.
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Returning Production for all teams can be found at Punt and Rally
Stats for all players can be found at College Football Team Stats | TeamRankings.com
