There are currently three Football Bowl Subdivision programs in the state of Illinois: Illinois, Northwestern and Northern Illinois. Two of these programs are Big Ten members and one is a Mid-American Conference member.

History and common thought says the two Big Ten schools are the best programs in the state, right?

Nope. The Huskies of Northern Illinois are currently the best FBS program in the state.

Let’s compare the three teams: Team A, Team B and Team C. See if you can guess which team is which. 

Since 2007, Team A has an overall record of 39-50, one BCS appearance and one Big Ten win since October 8, 2011. 

Team B has an overall record of 51-40, no BCS appearances and nine Big Ten wins since November 19, 2011. 

Team C has an overall record of 63-33, one BCS appearance, three Big Ten wins since September 28, 2013, and a top three Heisman finisher in 2013. 

Team A? The Illini. Team B? The Wildcats. Team C? The Huskies. 

Yes, NIU plays in a non-power conference, and this has hurt the Huskies in the past with regards to weekly rankings. But since 2010, NIU has dominated its conference by reaching four straight conference championship games, winning two. The Huskies have progressively scheduled different nonconference opponents. They are no longer an unknown in college football.

NIU has already defeated Northwestern this year and will travel to face Arkansas in two weeks. The Razorbacks may not be the Sugar Bowl team of a few years ago, but they’re still play in the SEC, generally considered the strongest of the Power Five conferences. 

Second-year athletic director Sean Frazier has realized that in order to have a higher profile, they need to play a tougher schedule. A few weeks ago the Huskies held a “schedule-palooza” where they announced future nonconference, home-and-home games. Their opponents are: San Diego State (Mountain West), BYU (independent), Utah (PAC-12) and Maryland (Big Ten). Earlier this week they also announced a home-and-home series with Boston College. 

These games would not have been scheduled if not for the success NIU has had since 2007, due in large part to their Orange Bowl berth and the play of former Huskies star Jordan Lynch.

Illinois is showing some signs of life, but the numbers don’t lie. NIU has more Big Ten wins in the last year than the Illini. The Huskies wins were not fluke wins either. They outplayed their opponents. 

There is panic in Evanston, as the Wildcats are off to an 0-2 start, especially following a disappointing 2013 year. In fact, since ESPN College GameDay was in Evanston, and when the Wildcats nearly upset fourth-ranked Ohio State, the Wildcats are 1-8. 

At this point, Chicago doesn’t have a Big Ten team. Fans lack enthusiasm in Champaign and Evanston. 

Of course in this time span, NIU became the first MAC team to reach a BCS bowl, where they lost to Florida State. This was one year before the Seminoles won the BCS title game. 

It may take years for NIU to truly outgrow the MAC, yet as long as the Huskies win in the MAC, win nonconference games and win bowl games, they’ll eventually win over the state of Illinois.

Who knows, NIU may even be targeted for conference expansion in the next go-round. Because let’s be honest, in college football, there’s always more realignment.

Illinois and Northwestern, it’s time step your game up. 

Erik is a senior in Media. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @e_prada.