Brigham Field at Huskie Stadium is a stadium in DeKalb, Illinois. It is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of the Northern
Illinois University "Huskies". Huskie Stadium opened in 1965 and seats 31,000 people. It replaced Glidden Field, a facility on the east campus
which only sat 5,500 but routinely saw 5-digit crowds.
It was originally known as "The house that George Bork built", but is now nicknamed "the Doghouse". On September 20, 1969, the Northern
Illinois-Idaho game marked the state’s first major-college gridiron contest played on artificial turf. The Huskies won, 47-30. The field was
recarpeted in 1980 and 1990 before being replaced by a new FieldTurf surface in 2001. The stadium originally consisted of the main concrete
west stands (which used to contain practice facilities for the gymnastics and wrestling teams) and much smaller temporary stands on the east
side. The east side was completely redone in 1995, creating a steel structure to mirror the concrete one. To its credit, the university has also
maintained and enhanced the institution’s top all-around athletics facility—by also updating the scoreboard and video display system in both
2000 and 2001, and creating the attractive South End Zone berm in 2002. In 2003, the field was renamed Brigham Field in honor of Robert J.
Brigham, a former player, coach and athletic director at the school.
In 2005 it was announced that the NIU Academic and Athletic Performance Center, a new field house and athletic training facility, would be built in
the north end zone.
The stadium was also the site of a few NCAA records. On October 6th, 1990 against the Bulldogs, quarterback Stacey Robinson rushed for 287
yards in the 1st half, and finished with 308 overall, as the Huskies upset then-24th ranked Fresno State, by a final score of 73-18. In that game,
the Huskies established school records for rushing yards(733), total offense(806), and First Downs(36). It was also the first victory over a ranked
opponent at the stadium. Since then, the Huskies have experienced large amounts of success in the national spotlight, defeating the Alabama
Crimson Tide and the Maryland Terrapins. Because of the Huskies success, NIU has averaged the highest attendance per game in the MAC for
the past 3 years.
In recent years, the football program has generated national headlines for the institution. With 7 consecutive winning seasons (best in the MAC),
Northern Illinois has the 25th best record in the nation since 2000 (53-30)---including triumphs over Bowl Championship Series programs such as
the Wake Forest, University of Alabama, University of Maryland, and Iowa State University. The Huskies finished in the major-college Top 30
during the 2003 and 2004 seasons and defeated Troy University, 34-21, in the 2004 Silicon Valley Football Classic. In 2006, NIU faced off
against TCU in the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego, California making it the second time in the last three years NIU has gone to a postseason bowl
game.
