Northern Illinois Huskies Odds

Northern Illinois Huskies 2026 Season Preview

Northern Illinois is joining the Mountain West Conference for the 2026 campaign. The school recently left the Mid-American Conference after being in the conference for 39 seasons.

Last season, the Huskies were awful, going 3-9 (2-6), which was their worst mark since 2022, when they went 3-9. However, now they will need to improve quickly, as the jump in talent level to the Mountain West is only going to get harder with top teams like UNLV and New Mexico giving them all they can handle.

Oddsmakers for the 2026 season do not have much hope in turning things for Northern Illinois. Currently, their projected win total is only 3, meaning they are likely to be at the bottom of the Mountain West standings. This team has many new players, including quarterback Taron Dickens, who is transferring from Western Carolina. 

We’ll go over some general markets — with relevant examples — in the subsections below that can help you bet on Northern Illinois football. 

Betting on Northern Illinois

There’s a variety of different markets to review when wagering on the Huskies this season. You can keep it general and laid back with Mountain West Conference futures or National Championship futures.

While futures can be somewhat relaxed and still engaging, you can also get more granular and go game to game with moneyline bets, wagers on the point spread or even an over/under bet.

We’ll talk a bit more about each of these categories below, including player props. It’s important to note that player props are not legal in all states that allow for collegiate sports betting.

Northern Illinois moneylines

A moneyline bet is a wager on the winner of a match. The odds will be displayed next to each team, with the favored team showing negative odds (reflecting a smaller payout) and the underdog showing positive odds (reflecting the larger payout).

When wagered on most sportsbooks like DraftKings or theSCORE Bet, you’ll see the odds displayed like this:

-  Northern Illinois Huskies (-120)

-  Nevada Wolf Pack (+275)

With this example above, the Huskies are the favorite so you’d need to bet $120 in cash to win $100 in profit. Another, slightly less daunting way to think about it, is you’d need to wager $1.20 to win $1 in profit.

Moneylines tend to be a good jumping off point for bettors looking to test the waters with collegiate athletics. This is largely because they’re not terribly nuanced and are pretty easy to understand, even if you’re a sports betting novice.

Northern Illinois point spreads

Beyond traditional moneylines, point spread bets are another entertaining market. As opposed to wagering on a winner, spread bets are a wager on the difference between the winning and losing teams score.

Even dominant teams falter when it comes to the spread. Additionally, spread betting is very common with college football because the score is more predictable than sports like basketball or even baseball.

Typically you’ll see spreads displayed like this:

- Northern Illinois Huskies +3.5 (-110)

- Air Force Falcons -3.5 (-110)

The actual point spread is displayed next to each team, so in the example the Huskies would cover if they lost by three points or less. Conversely, the Falcons would cover if they win by four points or more.

The parenthetical numbers next to the spreads indicate the payout. So with the odds displayed, you’d need to wager $1.10 to get $1 in profit.

To get a better sense of what kind of profits you’d be looking at, check out the Action odds calculator or an overview of American sports betting.

Northern Illinois totals bets

Betting the total, or as it’s often called the over/under, is a wager on the cumulative points scored between both teams. You can place a wager on either the over — meaning a bet that the total points will exceed the expected total — or the under — meaning a bet that the total points will be less than the expected total.

You’ll see totals markets displayed like this on most sportsbooks like FanDuel or BetMGM:

- Over 45.5 (-115)

- Under 45.5 (-105)

Based on the odds displayed, you’d need to wager $1.15 on the over to get $1 in profit. With the under, you’d need to bet $1.05 to get $1 in profit.

Northern Illinois player props

The final market we’ll discuss, player props, is in a slightly different situation. Because of specific restrictions on collegiate athletics, many states that allow for online sports betting don’t allow college player props.

With that in mind, you can review this page for a comprehensive list of all the states that allow for college player props.

Player props can be on any specific statline. Typically, props are offered on things like yards thrown, touchdown passes and rushing or receiving yards. That said, there are some sportsbooks that get more nuanced and offer more specific props like touchdown passes per half or quarter.

Operators like PrizePicks and Underdog have become hugely popular in the sports betting and DFS space with a focus on player props across multiple leagues.