Bronze Stalk Trophy

Battle for the Bronze Stalk

Ball State Cardinals Northern Illinois Huskies
Sport	Football
First meeting	October 4, 1941 Ball State 6, Northern Illinois 6
Latest meeting	October 25, 2025 Ball State 7, Northern Illinois 21
Next meeting	none planned
Trophy	Bronze Stalk Trophy (2008–present)
Statistics
Meetings total	53
All-time series	NIU, 26–25–2
Trophy series	Northern Illinois leads, 12–6
Largest victory	NIU 63–17 (2017)
Longest win streak	NIU, 10 (2009–2018)
Current win streak	NIU, 1 (2025)

110km
68miles

Northern Illinois

Ball State

   

Locations of Ball State and Northern Illinois

The Bronze Stalk Trophy was presented to the winner of the annual college football game between Mid-American Conference rivals Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois and Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. The two interstate rivals began competing for this trophy in 2008. ^[1]

Designed by nationally recognized sculptor and DeKalb artist Renee Bemis, the trophy depicts several cornstalks in tribute to the prevalence of maize around the respective home states of the rivals.

The first meeting between the two occurred in 1941, a 6–6 tie. After the 2025 contest, Northern Illinois holds the all-time lead in the series, 26–25–2. Ball State won the inaugural contest for the Bronze Stalk at Scheumann Stadium in 2008, with Northern Illinois winning the trophy for the first time the following season on Brigham Field at Huskie Stadium. ^[2] Northern Illinois football is moving to the Mountain West Conference after the 2025 contest, and there are currently no plans to continue the rivalry as a non-conference matchup, leaving Northern Illinois with the trophy and a permanent (for now) lead in the series. ^[3]

Game results

Ball State victories

Northern Illinois victories

Tie games

No. Date Location Winner Score 1 October 4, 1941 DeKalb, IL Tie 6–6 2 October 17, 1942 Muncie, IN Ball State 14–0 3 October 8, 1966 Muncie, IN Northern Illinois 38–24 4 October 7, 1967 DeKalb, IL Northern Illinois 28–14 5 September 14, 1968 Muncie, IN Northern Illinois 40–20 6 October 25, 1969 DeKalb, IL Northern Illinois 17–13 7 October 24, 1970 Muncie, IN Northern Illinois 31–14 8 October 23, 1971 DeKalb, IL Tie 10–10 9 October 20, 1973 DeKalb, IL Northern Illinois 45–17 10 November 9, 1974 Muncie, IN Ball State 31–21 11 October 25, 1975 DeKalb, IL Ball State 3–0 12 October 30, 1976 DeKalb, IL Ball State 33–7 13 October 15, 1977 Muncie, IN Ball State 31–6 14 November 18, 1978 DeKalb, IL Ball State 31–13 15 November 17, 1979 Muncie, IN Ball State 42–0 16 September 13, 1980 DeKalb, IL Ball State 18–17 17 October 3, 1981 Muncie, IN Ball State 23–0 18 October 2, 1982 DeKalb, IL Ball State 14–7 19 October 1, 1983 Muncie, IN Northern Illinois 27–14 20 September 29, 1984 DeKalb, IL Ball State 15–14 21 October 5, 1985 Muncie, IN Ball State 29–0 22 August 30, 1986 DeKalb, IL Ball State 20–10 23 October 31, 1987 Muncie, IN Ball State 42–17 24 October 29, 1988 DeKalb, IL Ball State 18–17 25 October 25, 1997 DeKalb, IL Ball State 21–14 26 October 3, 1998 Muncie, IN Ball State 18–13 27 October 9, 1999 DeKalb, IL Northern Illinois 37–17 No. Date Location Winner Score 28 September 30, 2000 Muncie, IN Northern Illinois 43–14 29 November 17, 2001 DeKalb, IL Northern Illinois 33–29 30 October 5, 2002 Muncie, IN Northern Illinois 41–29 31 November 1, 2003 DeKalb, IL #21 Northern Illinois 48–23 32 October 30, 2004 Muncie, IN Northern Illinois 38–31 33 October 29, 2005 DeKalb, IL Ball State 31–17 34 September 30, 2006 Muncie, IN Northern Illinois 40–28 35 November 24, 2007 DeKalb, IL Ball State 27–21 36 November 5, 2008 Muncie, IN #16 Ball State 45–14 37 November 12, 2009 DeKalb, IL Northern Illinois 26–20 38 November 20, 2010 Muncie, IN Northern Illinois 59–21 39 November 15, 2011 DeKalb, IL Northern Illinois 41–38 40 October 6, 2012 Muncie, IN Northern Illinois 35–23 41 November 13, 2013 DeKalb, IL #20 Northern Illinois 48–27 42 November 5, 2014 Muncie, IN Northern Illinois 35–21 43 October 10, 2015 DeKalb, IL Northern Illinois 59–41 44 October 1, 2016 Muncie, IN Northern Illinois 31–24 45 November 9, 2017 DeKalb, IL Northern Illinois 63–17 46 October 6, 2018 Muncie, IN Northern Illinois 24–16 47 October 5, 2019 DeKalb, IL Ball State 27–20 48 November 18, 2020 Muncie, IN Ball State 31–25 49 November 10, 2021 DeKalb, IL Northern Illinois 30–29 50 October 1, 2022 Muncie, IN Ball State 44–382OT 51 November 7, 2023 DeKalb, IL Ball State 20–17 52 October 26, 2024 Muncie, IN Ball State 25–23 53 October 25, 2025 DeKalb, IL Northern Illinois 21–7 Series: Northern Illinois leads 26–25–2

See also

• List of NCAA college football rivalry games

References

1. "Northern Illinois and Ball State to Play for The Bronze Stalk". NIUhuskies.com. November 21, 2007.
2. "Northern Illinois Opponents". Archived from the original on February 16, 2010. Retrieved November 9, 2010.
3. "Ball State football motivated to keep Bronze Stalk for good against NIU". thestarpress.com. October 23, 2025.