News of the success of the Northern Illinois University football team has reached across the pond to Ireland. Right guard Aidan Conlon, who's parents hail from Castlebrock and Ballinalee, Ireland, was featured in the Longford Leader. The story talks about Conlon's success at NIU, his roots in Ireland and his aspirations to play professionally. It's great to see the Northern Illinois football story go international.

Huskie wide receiver Martel Moore will be playing in the 2013 Texas vs. The Nation Game, an annual all-star game pitting college football players from the state of Texas versus the players from the other 49 states. The game will be played February 2, 2013 1:30 p.m. at Eagle Stadium in Allen, Texas.

A native of San Antonio, Texas, Moore will play for Team Texas. The 6-0, 183 pound wide receiver led the Huskies in receiving with 1,083 yards on 73 receptions. He was also third on the team in scoring with 13 touchdowns. Moore is the third Huskie to play in the Texas vs The Nation Game, joining Eddie Adamski and Chad Spann who played in the game in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

Texas vs. The Nation Moore is one of four Mid-American Conference representatives playing in the game. Toledo's Dan Molls and Ohio's Eric Herman and Tremayne Scott are playing for The Nation.

Football: Northern Illinois captured a huge victory on their home turf Saturday with a 30-23 win against Kansas. Trailing 23-13 early in the fourth quarter, Jordan Lynch led a 17-point comeback in the final stanza to give NIU their second comeback win in as many weeks. Lynch combined for 369 yards offensively, while the defense tallied four sacks of KU's Dayne Crist.

Men's Soccer: NIU lost both of their matches at New Mexico's Lobo Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M. Friday, the Huskies went into their fourth overtime game of the year against Denver. However, the Pioneers found the back of the net in the 109th minute for a 3-2 win. Northern ended their weekend with a 3-0 loss to the No. 5 and host Lobos.

The NFL preseason capped off its third week this weekend with several former Huskies making good impressions before Friday's final roster cutdown.

The NFL preseason continued this weekend with week two. Now that we are halfway through the four-week preseason, here is a breakdown of how all the former Huskies have fared through two weeks.

The Northern Illinois football program has been named to the American Football Coaches Association's honorable mention list for the 2011 Academic Achievement Award, presented by the Touchdown Club of Memphis.

Based on the NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of football student-athletes who enrolled in 2004, the award is given annually to the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision team with the highest GSR, at least 15 students in the GSR cohort and a Federal Graduation Rate of 75 percent or better. Boise State and Miami (Ohio) shared this year's Academic Achievement Award with a 100 percent graduation rate, while Northern Illinois was one of 44 schools named to the honorable mention list.

Among the 44 honorable mention teams, which includes institutions who graduated 75 percent or more of their football student-athletes, NIU was one of 15 schools at the top of the list with a GSR of 90 percent or higher. Those 15 teams are Air Force, Army, Boston College, Central Florida, Duke, Florida, Iowa, Miami (Fla.), Navy, Northern Illinois, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Penn State, Rice and Stanford.

Including Miami, NIU was one of four Mid-American Conference teams recognized in 2011 as Ohio and Bowling Green were also among the AFCA's honorable mention squads.

This year's award marks the fourth time the NCAA's Graduation Success Rate (GSR) formula has been used to select the winner of the AFCA Academic Achievement Award. From 1981 to 2007, the award was presented based on a formula used by the College Football Association and AFCA.

Just as college football has two different top-25 polls, the college soccer world also has a number of different polls ranking the top teams in the country. After a 5-0 start to the season, the Huskies appear in all four polls released as of Tuesday. In the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) and Soccer America polls, the Huskies come in at number 13. In other polls, the Huskies check in at 25th according to Soccer Times and 26th in the College Soccer News rankings. 

Last week the Huskie volleyball team received six votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 25 Coaches Poll.  Following a 3-1 week of play on the road, NIU has remained in the AVCA coaches' minds as they received four votes this week.  Prior to last week's poll, the Huskies had not received votes in the AVCA Top 25 Poll since 2001. 

The Mid-American Conference men's and women's basketball tournaments will see a change for the 2011-12 season, the league announced today.  Under a new format, both the men's and women's top two seeds will receive byes to the Semifinals, with the third and fourth seeds receiving byes to the Quarterfinals.  Click here to see the full announcement.

With Northern Illinois playing its season opener at Huskie Stadium for the first time since 2003 (a certain victory over No. 15 Maryland that some may recall), the NIU Ticket Office has worked hard to make sure Huskie fans have their season tickets in hand well before the Huskies kick off 2011 versus Army on Saturday, Sept. 3 at 6 p.m.

Today, the Ticket Office reports that all current season ticket orders have been mailed and everyone who has ordered tickets so far should have received, or be receiving, their season tickets in the next few days.  This includes all mini-plan orders. 

In addition, if you ordered home single game tickets, the Ticket Office is caught up on those as well as those orders have been mailed.  Of course, Soldier Field Showdown II tickets were mailed as far back as June and continue to be sent out as those orders are received.

Northern Illinois has NOT received all of its tickets for its 2011 away games yet so if you ordered tickets to the Kansas, Central Michigan, or any away game through us, you will be receiving those separately soon.  The ticket office hopes to have all of those tickets in DeKalb so that they can be mailed beginning next week.

While season tickets in the past have been available for pick-up at the preseason NIU Family Fun Day, the turnaround time between this year's Family Fun Day on Saturday, August 20 and the date of the home opener was too tight to hold the tickets at NIU. 

Don't worry, Huskie fans, there will still be a Family Fun Day with the cheerleaders, Victor E. Huskie, a football scrimmage, autographs, posters, schedule cards and more.  The football team will take the field for the scrimmage at 11:35 a.m. and all are invited to attend.  More details on Family Fun Day will be available soon on NIUHuskies.com, but for now, look for your tickets coming to a mailbox near you.

And a reminder, if you HAVEN'T ordered your season, single game or Soldier Field Showdown II tickets yet, there is STILL time!  Order online through the Tickets link at NIUHuskies.com or call us at 815-753-1923.

September 3 is just around the corner!  All season tickets ordered after August 22 will have to be picked up at the NIU Athletics Ticket Office in the Convocation Center or at Will Call on game day.  Don't wait until the last minute.  Get your tickets today.

The Southtown Star's Pat Disabato recently chatted with 2011 MAC Baseball Freshman of the Year Jeff Zimmerman, breaking down "Zimm's" ascent from Victor J. Andrew High School (Tinley Park, Ill.) standout to the cream of the crop of Mid-American Conference rookies.  Click here to read the article.

NIU volleyball sophomores Sarah Angelos and Lauren Wicinski are headed to Europe today.  The second-year duo will be traveling to Pula, Croatia, for the seventh annual European Global Challenge on July 17-22 as members of the USA Volleyball A2 Junior National Team.

Angelos and Wicinski will participate in a three-day training camp with Great Britain's Senior Women's National Team, which is set to compete in the 2012 London Olympics, before heading to the 2011 European Global Challenge to face some of the world's top national, collegiate and club teams.

Recently, the Daily Chronicle's Ryan Wood caught up with both Huskies before they left.  Click here to read today's article about Angelos and Wicinski's unique trip.

Also, be sure to come back to NIUHuskies.com in the upcoming weeks to see video footage of their trip.

Incoming men's golf freshman Nick Huggins placed 35th at the Rolex Tournament of Champions, which was held from June 27-July 1 at Sunriver Resort in Sunriver, Ore.  Conducted by the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA), the event is one of the most prestigious amateur tournaments associated with the AJGA.  The field featured 66 of the top amateur competitors from 31 different states, and Huggins held his own with rounds of 71, 79, 76 and 76 for a total of 302 (+14).

Incoming men's golf freshmen Nick Huggins has kept himself busy this summer. He tied for 52nd place in the 94th Western Junior Championship held at Beverley Country Club located in Chicago. The tournament attracts some of the best junior golfers in the nation. Past winners include current professional golfer Rickie Fowler, who won it in 2005.

Currently, Nick is playing in the AJGA Rolex Tournament of Champions. It is regarded as the "Masters" of junior golf events where only an elite field is invited to compete. Nick shot a 71 and is tied for third after day one.

NIU Hall of Famer Dave Mason will be inducted into his high school's Hall of Fame on December 9th.  The Philo Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2011 will feature Mason along with two others.  At Philo High School in Duncan Falls, Ohio, Mason won 11 varsity letters, four football, four baseball and three basketball.  He was named an all-conference performer for baseball four times, football three times and basketball once.  He was a starter in every year in each sport. 

In 1970, Mason  took the reigns of the NIU baseball program, where he left an indelible mark.  He put together a .531 winning percentage (94-83-1) in five seasons as head coach for the Huskies and took the 1972 team to NCAA Tournament, giving the program its first trip to the NCAA Tournament.  In 2008, the 1972 team was inducted into the NIU Athletics Hall of Fame, and two members of the team (Tom Wittum and Jay Graziano) were later inducted in the Hall as individuals.

Congrats, Coach Mason!

Last week in Indianapolis, the NCAA held its annual Career in Sports Forum which gives student-athletes from across the country the opportunity to explore their interest in athletic careers upon graduation. For the second consecutive year, NIU Associate Athletic Director Monique Bernoudy was selected as one of the 16 facilitators for the four-day conference. During the event, student-athletes developed their skills in a number of areas, including communication, networking, recruiting, managing diversity, crisis management and budgeting.

"The NCAA Forum is an exceptional opportunity for student-athletes to enhance their skill set, become more self-aware, explore athletic careers and meet student-athletes, coaches and administrators from across the country," said Bernoudy. "It is a joy to work with them and watch them blossom in four days."

"It's not everyday that you can walk into the dugout and be congratulated by Ryan Klesko."

That's what NIU baseball's Trey Lang said Tuesday night after Ryan Klesko visited the clubhouse of the Hannibal Cavemen, a collegiate summer team in the Prospect League.  Klesko, a former MLB standout, and Woody Williams, another former MLB standout, recently became part of the ownership group for the Hannibal, Mo., team.  The two pros took the time to meet and greet the team Tuesday night.  To read about the details and advice that Lang, his Huskie teammates Jake Hermsen and Jeff Zimmerman, and the rest of the Cavemen received, click here.

Over the past few days, two members of the NIU athletics department have welcomed two new Huskies to the family.  First was Nora Vivolyn Harris, daughter of Ryan and Liz Harris.  Ryan is the associate director of sales for Huskie athletics.  The Harris' firstborn child came on June 2nd at 7:27 a.m.  Nora weighed in at 7 lbs, 13 oz., and she and Liz are doing great!

The second addition to the Huskie family came today at 9:24 a.m. as Camden J. Elliott was welcomed to the world.  Weighing in at 7 lbs, 12 oz., Camden joins his four-year-old sister, Kylan, in women's basketball associate head coach Marsha Frese and Jason Elliott's family.  Both Coach Frese and Camden are doing very well!