1976 Northern Illinois Huskies football team

The 1976 Northern Illinois Huskies football team represented Northern Illinois University as a member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) during 1976 NCAA Division I football season. Led by first-year head coach Pat Culpepper, the Huskies compiled an overall record of 1–10 with a mark of 0–6 in conference play, placing last out of ten teams in the MAC. Northern Illinois played home games at Huskie Stadium in DeKalb, Illinois.

1976 Northern Illinois Huskies football
Conference	Mid-American Conference
Record	1–10 (0–6 MAC)
Head coach	Pat Culpepper (1st season)
MVP	Don Palochko, Vince Smith, Tim Dacy
Captain	Tim Dacy, Tim Miller, Don Palochko, Vince Smith
Home stadium	Huskie Stadium

1976 Mid-American Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Ball State $	4	–	1	–	0			8	–	3	–	0
Kent State	6	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Ohio	6	–	2	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
Western Michigan	6	–	3	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
Central Michigan	4	–	3	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
Bowling Green	4	–	3	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Miami (OH)	2	–	4	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Toledo	2	–	6	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Eastern Michigan	1	–	5	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
Northern Illinois	0	–	6	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 11	at Wichita State*	Cessna Stadium Wichita, KS	L 0–21	27,311
September 28	Western Michigan	Huskie Stadium DeKalb, IL	L 6–37
September 25	at Long Beach State*	Veterans Memorial Stadium Long Beach, CA	L 0–37	7,747
October 9	at Indiana State*	Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	L 10–28
October 16	Illinois State*	Huskie Stadium DeKalb, IL	W 7–3
October 23	at Southern Illinois*	McAndrew Stadium Carbondale, IL	L 0–54
October 30	Ball State	Huskie Stadium DeKalb, IL (rivalry)	L 7–33
November 6	at Toledo	Glass Bowl Toledo, OH	L 2–17
November 13	Central Michigan	Huskie Stadium DeKalb, IL	L 9–31
November 20	at Ohio	Peden Stadium Athens, OH	L 15–63
November 25	at Kent State	Dix Stadium Kent, OH	L 0–42
*Non-conference game