HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i football team will face Northern Illinois on the gridiron for the first time ever in a Mountain West contest on Saturday, Oct. 24. Kickoff for the game – which is also UH's first-ever in the state of Illinois – is 2:30 p.m. CDT (9:30 a.m. HT) at Huskie Stadium. Both teams are seeking their first Mountain West win of the season. The Rainbow Warriors have dropped four straight games overall, while the Huskies are winless in six overall games this year.
| HAWAI'I (1-6, 0-4 MW) vs. NORTHERN ILLINOIS (0-6, 0-2 MW) |
| Date | Time |
Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026 | 2:30 p.m. CDT / 9:30 a.m. HT |
| Location | Stadium |
DeKalb, Ill. | Huskie Stadium (28,211) |
| Television |
K5. Kanoa Leahey (play-by-play) and Rich Miano (analyst).
MW+. Matt Rodewald (play-by-play) and Clay Harbor (analyst). |
| Local Radio |
ESPN Honolulu (1500AM/92.7FM). John Veneri (play-by-play) and Mark Veneri (analyst). |
| Streaming Audio |
ESPNHonolulu.com & ESPN Honolulu app |
| Live Stats |
HawaiiAthletics.com |
| Game Notes |
Hawai'i | Northern Illinois | Mountain West |
| Social Media |
@HawaiiFootball  | #HawaiiFB | @RainbowWarriorsFootball  | Facebook  |
SERIES VS NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Series Information: First Meeting
In Honolulu: None
In DeKalb: None
GAME STORYLINES
- Hawai'i and Northern Illinois are meeting for the first time ever.
- The game is UH's first ever in the state of Illinois.
- The 4,255 miles that UH will travel to DeKalb, Ill., make this the furthest that any FBS team has ever traveled to play a conference game within the United States. The Warriors previously would make regular trips to Ruston, La., to play Louisiana Tech as part of the Western Athletic Conference, a distance of 4,039 miles.
- The Warriors are looking to snap their four-game losing streak – tied for the longest losing streak under head coach Timmy Chang. The last time UH lost five games in a row was 2017, when the Warriors lost the final five games of the year.
- Hawai'i is 5-20 all-time when it has to travel at least 4,000 miles. Three of those five wins came against Louisiana Tech when the two teams were WAC rivals while the other two victories have come against UMass (2017) and Army (2010).
- UH will be looking to win a game in which it has to travel at least 4,000 miles to a destination for the first time since 2017 at UMass. The Warriors have lost their last three trips of over 4,000 miles and seven of their last eight dating back to 2015.
- The Warriors have scored 43 of their 110 total points in the fourth quarter, including six of the team's 11 total touchdowns.
- QB Micah Alejado is third nationally with 25.7 completions per game and 180 total pass completions. He also leads the Mountain West in passing yards per game (266.1) and total offense (269.6).
- Alejado became the 11th Warrior quarterback to reach 5,000 career passing yards, and is now ninth at UH in career passing (5,554). He is the fourth-fastest UH QB to reach 5,000 career passing yards in terms of games played (20) and fifth-fastest in terms of attempts (705).
- UH has been held to under 20 points in all four games of its current losing streak, marking the first time since 1998 that a Hawai'i team has failed to crack the 20-point mark in at least four consecutive games.
Never miss a moment of Hawai'i Athletics! Catch over 200 live games—both home and away—across all your favorite sports on the all-new MW+. Ready to get in on the action? Click HERE to subscribe to MW+ today!
Invest in the future of Hawai'i Athletics. Support our student-athletes by exploring Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) opportunities. Click HERE to learn how you can make a difference.
