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.

	Capacity		31,000
	Opened		November 6, 1965
	Owner		Northern Illinois University
	Operator		Northern Illinois University
	Surface		FieldTurf
	Location		Stadium Dr S DeKalb, IL 60115
	Construction cost		$2,265,172

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 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. 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. In 2003, the field was renamed Brigham Field in honor of Robert J. Brigham, a former player, coach and athletic director at the school.

The stadium was also the site of a few NCAA records. Against Fresno State, quarterback Stacey Robinson rushed for 287 yards in the 1st half, and finished with 308 overall, as the Huskies upset then-20th 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.

(source .. wikipedia) reproduced under GFDL

[ Anything to add? Spotted an error? Click here to improve this entry ]

The ACC.com - The Official website of the Atlantic Coast Conference
NCAA - National Collegiate Athletic Association website
Northern Illinois University
Northern Illinois Athletics official site

[ Anything to add? Spotted an error? Click here to improve this entry ]