Oct. 9, 2007

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Northern Illinois Huskies vs. Western Michigan Broncos
Oct. 13, 2007 - 3 p.m. (CDT) - Comcast SportsNet Chicago
DeKalb, Ill. - Brigham Field at Huskie Stadium (24,000)

HUSKIE FACTS
2007 Record: 1-5
2007 MAC Record: 0-3
Head Coach: Joe Novak
Alma Mater/Year: Miami (OH) 1967
Record at NIU/Year: 62-71/12th
Career Record/Year: Same
Location: DeKalb, Illinois
Enrollment: 25,254
Conference: Mid-American (West Division)
Colors: Cardinal and Black
Stadium: Brigham Field at Huskie Stadium
Surface/Capacity: Field Turf /24,000
President: Dr. John Peters
Associate VP/Athletic Director: Dr. Jim Phillips
Ticket Information: 815-752-6800

2007 NIU SCHEDULE & RESULTS

SERIES RECAP
Overall: WMU leads 21-11
In DeKalb: WMU leads 10-6
In Kalamazoo: WMU leads 11-5
In MAC Games: WMU leads 12-9
First Meeting: WMU 40, NIU 13 (Sept. 23, 1950)
Last Meeting: WMU 16, NIU 14 (Oct. 14, 2006)

BRONCOS' FACTS
2007 Record: 2-4
2007 MAC Record: 1-1
Head Coach: Bill Cubit
Alma Mater/Year: Delaware 1975
Record at WMU/Year: 17-13/3rd
Career Record/Year: 51-31-1/7th
Location: Kalamazoo, Mich.
Enrollment: 24,481
Conference: Mid-American
Colors: Brown and Gold
Stadium: Waldo Stadium
Surface/Capacity: FieldTurf/30,200
President: Dr. John M. Dunn
Athletic Director: Kathy Beauregard
Ticket Information: 269-387-8092

WMU 2007 SCHEDULE & RESULTS

NEWS & NOTES
WELCOME BACK: Northern Illinois (1-5, 0-3 MAC) returns to the friendly confines of Huskie Stadium for the first time in a month to play host to MAC West Division foe Western Michigan (2-4, 1-1) on Homecoming Weekend on the NIU campus.

HOMECOMING HISTORY: Northern Illinois celebrates its 101st Homecoming this weekend and the Huskies' celebratioon is acclaimed as the oldest major-college alumni gathering in the state and one of the longest such observances in the country. The NIU "homecoming" dates back to an alumni football game played on Oct. 10, 1903. All-time, Northern Illinois is 62-28-10 in Homecoming contests and has won its last nine games in front of the alums. NIU's last homecoming loss came on Oct. 11, 1997 to Vanderbilt, 17-7. In Huskie Stadium, Northern Illinois' Homecoming record is 28-12-2.

NEW HUSKIE HALL OF FAMERS: As part of Homecoming festivities, Northern Illinois will welcome four individuals and two teams to the NIU Athletics Hall of Fame at the annual Hall of Fame banquet Friday night at the Holmes Student Center. Basketball's Rodney Davis (1984-88), football's Mike Terna (1977-80), softball player Sue Kause (1984-88) and coach/administrator Jerry Ippoliti (1969-75; 1979-99) join the 1950 and '51 baseball teams to make up the 26th induction class.

NOVAK'S NUMBERS: NIU Head Coach Joe Novak enters his 12th season at the helm of the Huskie program as the dean of Mid-American Conference coaches. Novak, who ranks second all-time at NIU in games coached (133) and is third in victories (62), took over sole possession of ninth place on the MAC career wins list with 61 (his first win came before NIU re-joined the league). His 46 league victories are tied for 10th all-time.

FRUSTRATED IN PHILLY: Last Saturday in Philadelphia, Temple handed NIU its third league loss of the season, 16-15, at Lincoln Financial Field. The Owls did not record an offensive touchdown but used three field goals by Jake Brownell, the third coming with nine seconds left on the clock, and a 68-yard fumble recovery and return, to stun the Huskies. Northern Illinois got 163 rushing yards from Justin Anderson, but a pair of missed extra points would prove critical in the loss.

STREAKY SERIES: Saturday's game will mark the 33rd meeting between Northern Illinois and Western Michigan, and the 22nd as Mid-American Conference foes. The Broncos' win last season snapped a five-game NIU win streak from 2001-05, which came on the heels of six wins in a row by Western dating back to 1991. Western Michigan also dominated the early games as they won 14 of the first 15 games between 1950 and 1982. The Huskies are 10-7 versus WMU since 1983.

THE LAST MEETING: Last October, Western Michigan ended the Huskies' four-game winning streak with a 16-14 decision in Kalamazoo in a defensive battle that saw WMU control the football but score just one offensive touchdown on the day. Northern Illinois scored early on a blocked punt to take a 7-0 lead, but WMU's Nate Meyer hit his third field goal of the game, a 40-yarder with 3:25 left, to give the Broncos a 16-7 lead. NIU got a late touchdown to pull within two with 1:19 on the clock but could not recover the onside kick as the Huskies totaled zero net rushing yards.

MAC MARK: Northern Illinois is 81-80-2 (.503) versus its fellow Mid-American Conference members in 20 total seasons as a member of the league. Since beginning its second stint in the conference in 1997, NIU and head coach Joe Novak are 46-35 (.568) versus MAC competition.

106 AND COUNTING: NIU is playing its 106th season of intercollegiate football in 2007 and enters the WMU game with an all-time record of 487-439-51 (.525) after seven straight winning campaigns. The Huskies played their first games in 1899 and moved into the realm of "major college" football in 1969.

HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE: The Huskies are 126-91-2 (.580) on Brigham Field since moving to Huskie Stadium in 1966. Under Joe Novak, Northern Illinois is 36-27 (.571) at home over the last 11 seasons and has won 35 of its last 45 contests in DeKalb. Since the beginning of the 2003 season, Northern Illinois is 19-6 at home for a winning percentage of 76 percent.

WELCOME MAC: At home, Northern is 45-35-1 (.562) in MAC games all-time and has gone 24-16 (.600) under Joe Novak. After going 2-2 at home in the MAC last year and losing two home league games for the first time in eight seasons, the Huskies are looking for their first home MAC win of the season.

OLD SCHOOL: Although it was broadcast on-line, last week's NIU-Temple game marked the first time in 21 games - since Nov. 5, 2005 when Northern Illinois faced Central Michigan in Mt. Pleasant - that a Huskie football game was NOT available via an over-the-air telecast. The final three games of the 2005 campaign were televised along with every game last season (13) and each of the first five games this year. During that span, NIU appeared on ESPN or ESPN2 six times, on ABC once, was part of an ESPN Plus or ESPN GamePlan package four times, played on ESPNU on three occasions, and had seven games televised by Comcast SportsNet.

TV TOTALS: In 40 seasons of televised games, Northern Illinois is 51-52-1 all-time on television, including a 29-22 mark since the start of the 2001 season. All 13 Huskie games were aired a year ago; NIU went 5-4 in its nine television appearances in 2005 and posted an impressive 8-2 mark on TV in 2004. The Iowa game on ESPNU was the 26th ESPN Network broadcast all-time for Northern Illinois, with six ESPN airings last year.

JUST-IN TIME?: Sophomore Justin Anderson continues to thrive in the featured tailback role for the Huskies. Since taking over as the full-time starter versus Eastern Michigan, Anderson has recorded FOUR consecutive 150-plus yard rushing games and is averaging 164 yards per game. He provided a bright spot for the NIU offense versus Temple with 163 yards on 29 carries and two rushing touchdowns, including a 39-yard TD run to put the Huskies on top 15-13 in the fourth quarter. With QB Dan Nicholson sideline, Anderson put the NIU offense on his back to account for 83 of Northern's 95 yards on the fourth-quarter drive (including a 15-yard late hit penalty). A look at Anderson's last four games and his season total:

FOUR FOR FOUR: Anderson - NOT heralded Heisman candidates Michael Hart (Michigan), Ray Rice (Rutgers), Darren McFadden (Arkansas) or P.J. Hill (Wisconsin) is the ONLY running back in the country who can claim four of the Top 60 rushing days in the NCAA FBS this year (see above). Each of those games has occurred since he assumed the No. 1 tailback role when Montell Clanton went down with a season-ending knee injury versus SIU. Anderson now ranks 12th nationally in rushing with 122.7 yards per game. His four-game average of164-yards would rank second.

LEADING MAN: Through the first half of the season, Justin Anderson leads NIU in rushing, scoring (7 TDs) and all-purpose yards (908 yards, 151.3 avg.) and ranks second on the team in receptions (24 catches, 172 yards). He ranks second in the MAC in rushing, sixth in all-purpose yards and tied for sixth in scoring.

A GREAT EIGHT: With eight catches versus Southern Illinois, Anderson posted the highest single-game catch total for an NIU running back in at least 25 years, since prior to the 1983 season. With 24 catches through the first half of 2007, Anderson is on pace to catch 48 passes, which would surpass the NIU single season record for catches by a running back of 43, set by Jack Dean in 1963.

A FINE LINE: The Huskies' young offensive line, led by the play of junior tackle Jon Brost and sophomore center Eddie Adamski, has earned kudos from the NIU coaching staff and led Justin Anderson to his early-season success. Neither Brost, who Novak says has returned to his 2005 form, nor Adamski, the 2006 Freshman All-American, have allowed a sack this season. Each has been on the field for every single offensive snap for the Huskies this season (410 plays).

SACK MASTER: With seven sacks this season and 20 for his career, English ranks tied for first in the MAC and tied for fourth in the country in sacks with 1.17 per game. English's five sacks versus Idaho remains the top single-game performance by any FBS defender this season. Going into the Temple game, he ranked sixth in the country among active FBS players in career sacks.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS: Spurred by his school-record five sacks at Idaho, Larry English continues to climb the Northern Illinois' career sacks list as the junior now ranks third in Huskie history with 20, behind only Cary Caliendo (31 sacks) and Scott Kellar (23). English also has at least one tackle for loss in each of NIU's last five games to move into seventh place on that career list with 32.5.

DOMINATING DAY: Defensive end Larry English was too much for the Idaho offense as the junior from Aurora sacked Vandals' QB Nathan Enderle five times to break the school single-game record he established last year (4.5 versus Temple). English also was credited with five quarterback pressures and a career-high 12 tackles in that game. On one play, he forced Enderle into a swift retreat, the QB fumbled into the endzone, and English recovered for his first career touchdown. Despite playing 90 of the Huskies' 95 defensive plays, he made a game-saving sack on the final play of the game to preserve the NIU victory. For his efforts, English was named the MAC West Defensive Player of the Week and earned the FWAA Bronko Nagurski Defensive Player of the Week award.

ENDURANCE: According to Northern Illinois' coaches', English has been on the field for an amazing 439 of 454 defensive plays (96.7 percent) this season, including 90 of 96 snaps versus Idaho and every play (coaches' totals) of both the Temple and Eastern Michigan contests. With seven defensive linemen sidelined by injury so far in 2007, English's presence and performance is even more critical as he and tackle Alex Krutsch are playing alongside as many as five freshmen on the D-line.

DARE TO COMPARE: A look at the Huskies' defensive numbers a year ago at this time show that, despite a massive number of injuries to the NIU defensive line in 2007 and the loss of middle linebacker Tim McCarthy, the two units stack up similarly. Through six games in 2006, Northern Illinois had surrendered 150 points, versus 157 given up so far this year, while the number of first downs allowed - 125 to 126 - is nearly identical. The 2007 Huskies have actually surrendered fewer yards of total offense, 2,420 to 2,464, and has significantly cut down on the number of passing yards allowed. Through six games in 2006, Northern Illinois opponents had 1,736 passing yards, an average of 289.3 per game and 13 passing TDs. This year's opponents have 1,389 passing yards for 231.5 per game with just seven scores. And the number of turnovers caused by the two defenses? Nine in 2006 (1 INT, 8 Fumbles) and eight (4 INT, 4 Fumbles) this season.

HELLO! FRESHMEN: Two Huskie rookie defenders made their presence felt at Temple as redshirt strong safety Alex Kube recorded a career-best 14 tackles while true freshman nose guard D.J. Pirkle registered the first two quarterback sacks of his NIU career as part of three tackles on the day. Kube, with four double-digit tackle days already this year, leads the Huskies with 56 stops on the season.

BY THE TON: Simon's 92-yard touchdown was the highlight of a career-best and team season-high nine-catch, 205-yard effort versus Central Michigan. The Minnesota junior, who was coming off of his first career 100-yard receiving game at Idaho with four grabs for 115 yards, recorded just the sixth 200-yard receiving day in NIU history, and the first since Sam Hurd set a school record with 266 yards on 12 catches versus CMU in 2005. He owns one of only 14 200-yard receiving days in the NCAA (FBS) this year. He also caught passes of 18, 27, 21 and 15 yards in the game.

SIMON SAYS...CATCH!: With 15 catches for 337 yards in his last three games alone, Matt Simon surpassed his CAREER yardage total of 314 entering 2007 and now leads NIU in receiving yards with 420 and in catches with 25. Simon is averaging 17.6 yards per catch and 70 receiving yards per game and has caught at least one pass in every game this season.

SIMON SAYS...BLOCK!: NIU wide receiver Matt Simon tallied the first punt block of his Huskie career in the second quarter of the Idaho game. The block was recovered by Jeff Fontana in the end zone to give Northern a 28-7 lead. Northern Illinois tallied four blocked kicks a year ago, including a blocked punt versus Western Michigan and three blocks in the bowl game versus TCU. Simon, who plays on several of the Huskies' special teams, ranks second on the team in all-purpose yards with 492.

DIALING LONG DISTANCE: NIU quarterback Dan Nicholson and receiver Matt Simon hooked up on a 92-yard pass play versus Central Michigan which now ranks as the second-longest completion in the country (FBS schools) this season. The play also ranks on the Huskie charts as the fourth-longest touchdown pass ever and was the longest pass play for NIU since Sept. 30, 2000, when Dan Urban connected with Justin McCareins on a school-record 99-yard score versus Ball State.

CATCHING ON: With six catches at Central Michigan, Britt Davis moved into ninth place on Northern Illinois' all-time receptions list as he now has 119 catches for 1,355 yards. Davis passed the 100-catch mark versus Iowa in just his 25th career game, the earliest an NIU player has reached 100 catches. Already the NIU record-holder for catches as a freshman (42) and as a sophomore (57), Davis has caught at least one pass in 25 of his last 26 games.

RETURNING RECEIVER: With two of the Huskies top three receivers -- Britt Davis and Greg Turner -- out of the line-up last week at Temple, the unit was buoyed by the return from injury of junior Marcus Perez, who recorded his best day of the year with five catches for 63 yards. Perez totaled 168 all-purpose yards on the day as he added 14 yards rushing on a reverse, an 18-yard punt return and 73 yards on three kickoff returns. Perez missed NIU's three previous games with a shoulder injury.

PICKOFF PLAY: Newcomer Chase Carter picked off his second pass of the season Saturday at Temple and now owns half of the Huskies' 2007 interceptions and all of the team's 120 return yards. Carter brought his first career pick-off back 95 yards for a score versus Idaho, tying him for the eighth-longest scoring play in Northern Illinois history, and recording the second-longest interception return TD ever (behind Dave Petway's 100-yard INT return versus SIU in 1977).

EVERY WHICH WAY: While Northern Illinois' defense has given up only 16 TDs on the season, NIU opponents have reached the end zone 21 times. In addition to the nine rushing and seven passing scores, Huskie opponents have scored on a punt return (Idaho), a kickoff return (Central Michigan), a pair of interception returns (SIU) and a fumble recovery and return (Temple).

PILES OF PASSING: Junior quarterback Dan Nicholson threw for a season-high 293 yards at Central Michigan and has thrown for a career-best 1,159 yards in six games. Nicholson has completed 110-of-180 passes (61.1 percent) and is on pace to become only the seventh QB in NIU history to pass for 2,000 or more yards in a season.

HOTTEST STREAK: Dan Nicholson quietly set a school record for most consecutive pass completions during the SIU game when he hit 15 straight while leading the Huskies to their four touchdown drives. He broke the record set by Phil Horvath, who completed 13 consecutive throws versus Akron on Sept. 24, 2005. Nicholson's streak began on the Huskies' first drive of the second quarter and continued until he missed Britt Davis on a deep pass in the third period.

SCORING MARKS: Northern Illinois kicker Chris Nendick has scored at least one point in every game of his Huskie career, a school-record 43 straight contests, and now ranks third all-time at NIU in scoring with 301 total points. Nendick ranks second all-time in kick scoring, 69 points behind leader Steve Azar (2000-03). He is second in career field goals made with 51 and in field goal attempts (70). The Naperville product ranks fourth in the NCAA among active kickers in career PATs made (148) and attempted (152) and is fifth in scoring. He needs four extra points made and seven attempts to become NIU's all-time leader in those categories.

WORTH NOTING: The 35 points surrendered by Northern Illinois in the first half at Central Michigan were the most since Kansas State scored 59 points in the opening half on Sept. 12, 1998 in Manhattan. In addition, NIU's six turnovers (four INTs, two fumbles) were the most by a Huskie team in 101 games, since a 16-3 loss to Toledo on Oct. 31, 1998 when Northern Illinois committed seven turnovers. Finally, NIU's 521 yards of total offense in that game was the 15th-highest total in school history and marked the fifth time in school history, that the Huskies gained 500 or more yards in a game and lost.

HURTING: Northern Illinois has been bit by the injury bug in 2007 as 10 starters (or replacement starters) have missed at least one game due to injury. In addition, 19 different players listed on the depth chart have lost at least one game to injury, with 14 of those resulting in multiple games on the sideline. Seven players - NG Adam Schroeder (shoulder surgery), TB Montell Clanton, DT Craig Rusch and DE Anthony Antonacci (all rt. knees), LB Sal Ibarra (ankle), RB Cas Prime (knee) and DE Jake Coffman (foot) - have been sidelined for the season. Starting MLB Tim McCarthy (rt. knee) will miss significant time and possibly the season. The latest additions to the list were WRs Britt Davis and Greg Turner (shoulder) and tailback David Bryant (ankle), each of whom missed the Temple game.

D-LINE D-MOLISHED: The Huskies have lost seven players on the defensive line to injury this season. Craig Rusch, Anthony Antonacci, Adam Schroeder, Zach Holycross, Mike Krause, Jake Coffman and Brandon Bice have all missed at least one game, with Rusch, Antonacci, Schroeder and Coffman done for the season. Huskie coaches now have moved Dan Keller from offensive to defensive line. Four freshmen have played on the defensive line in 2007, including first-year players John Hopkins and D.J. Pirkle. Ed Jackson, a redshirt freshmen, made his first career start at Idaho and fellow redshirt rookie Krause started for the first time at Central Michigan.

CAREER YEAR: In his third season as NIU's punter, Andy Dittbenner is enjoying the best year of his career; he currently ranks eighth nationally with a punting average of 45.4 and seven of his 25 punts downed inside the 20. Dittbenner's current average ranks only fifth in the league but is eighth nationally as MAC punters dominate the top of the national charts. The Northern Illinois record for single season punting average is 41.78 yards and Dittbenner's current number would blow that mark away.

DITTBENNER'S DAY: Andy Dittbenner enjoyed the comforts of Idaho's Kibbie Dome with a career-best day. Dittbenner punted eight times for a 47.8 yard average, his highest single game average (more than three punts) and the fifth-highest single-game mark in NIU history. He drilled a career-long 60-yard effort and added punts of 55, 52 and 55 yards on the day.

HANG TIME: Dittbenner also is moving up the Huskie career punting charts for punts and punting yards while also ranking on the punting average list. His 134 punts are ninth-most in Huskie history as are his 5,303 punting yards. His current punting average of 39.6 would rank fourth on the NIU career lists.

DEFLECTION SECTION: With 25 pass break-ups by nine different players in 2007, Northern Illinois is already threatening its 2006 total of 30. CB Melvin Rice leads the way in the deflection section with five break-ups, while LB John Tranchitella and DE Brandon Bice have four PBU's each. The Huskies tipped a season-high eight passes at Idaho with Tranchitella getting his hands on three passes and adding his first interception of 2007.

VANDALIZING IDAHO: After gaining only one turnover in the first three games, the Northern Illinois defense came up with four at Idaho, including three interceptions and a fumble recovery. Two of the turnovers resulted directly in touchdowns as the fumble recovery was made in the end zone and one of the interceptions was returned for a score. Northern Illinois has not had three interceptions in a game since the 2005 Toledo game. Last year the Huskies had a season-best two interceptions versus Central Michigan.

HUSKIE DEBUTANTES: Nineteen different players have made their Huskie debuts in 2007, including nine redshirt freshmen, seven true freshmen, transfers Anthony Mason and Chase Carter, and junior Vincent Matthew. Redshirt freshman Mike Lepper was the latest to join the list as he saw action on special teams at CMU. True freshmen John Hopkins, D.J. Pirkle, Chad Spann, Patrick George, Nolan Owen, Landon Cox and Kyle Skarb have now all seen playing time this year. In addition to Lepper, the redshirt rookies are Alex Kube, Ed Jackson, Bryan Beckner, Ricky Crider, Justin Stewart, Jake Coffman, Mike Krause and Vernon Sims with Kube (S), Jackson (DT), Beckner (TE) and Krause (NG) all starting at least one game.

HOME-GROWN: The 2007 Northern Illinois roster includes 75 players from the state of Illinois and 61 from the Chicagoland area, the highest concentrations of any NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) school in the state. In all, 66 percent of NIU's 2007 football players hail from the Land of Lincoln. A quick glance at the rosters of Northwestern and Illinois show the Wildcats with 26 in-state products, 18 from Chicago, while the Fighting Illini roster lists 50 home grown players and 30 from the area.

HITTING THE AIRWAVES: With the addition of the Wisconsin game to the Big Ten Network schedule, a total of 10 NIU football games are scheduled to air on television this year. The Eastern and Central Michigan games were selected as the ESPN Plus MAC Game of the Week and were also picked up by ESPN GamePlan. ESPNU aired the season-opener against Iowa, and the syndicated telecast of the Idaho contest also was available through ESPN GamePlan. Northern Illinois' Nov. 17 tilt at Navy will be shown on CSTV and the remaining four NIU home games will be seen on Comcast SportsNet Chicago. NIU has appeared on national television 14 times since 2004, with 34 total games broadcast.

YORDON CENTER DEDICATED: On Sept. 8, NIU officially dedicated the new Jeffrey and Kimberly Yordon Center. Located adjacent to the North End Zone of Huskie Stadium, the Yordon Center houses nearly all of Northern Illinois' student-athlete support units and serves as the home for the Huskie Football team. From the "smart" classrooms in the academic center to the rehabilitation pools in the athletic training center to the expandable storage area in the equipment room, everything about the Yordon Center says "first-class." The football team meets together in the tiered, 150-seat auditorium while technology-enhanced position meeting rooms, coaches offices overlooking Brigham Field and a locker room large enough to accommodate the entire team highlight the "football" areas of the 62,000-square foot building. Construction on the $14-million privately-funded facility began in June 2006. It is named for Northern Illinois supporters Jeffrey and Kimberly Yordon, who in November 2006 announced a $2.5 million gift to the project, the largest gift to Huskie Athletics in the 107-year history of the institution.

RECORD-SETTER: The season-opening GEICO Soldier Field Showdown between NIU and Iowa (Sept. 1) set new attendance marks for both Northern Illinois and the Mid-American Conference with a sell-out crowd of 61,500 packing the lakefront facility. NIU's previous record home crowd occurred on Oct. 18, 2003, when 28,211 people came to Huskie Stadium for a contest versus Western Michigan. The previous largest home crowd in league history was recorded Oct. 27, 2001 when Toledo played Navy in front of 36,852 at the Glass Bowl.

LUCKY 13: Thirty-three different players have started games for NIU in 2007 with 13 of those making their first career appearance in the starting line-up. The first-timers include seven offensive players and six defenders: Tight ends Reed Cunningham and Bryan Beckner, linemen Tim Mayerbock and Kevin Skatrud, wide receiver Greg Turner and tailbacks Montell Clanton and Justin Anderson on offense and linemen Brandon Bice, Ed Jackson and Mike Krause, linebacker John Tranchitella, safety Alex Kube and cornerback Chase Carter on defense.

JUNIOR CAPTAINS: For the first time in Joe Novak's tenure at NIU, the permanent captains selected by the Huskie team do not include a senior. Four junior players were elected by their teammates this spring -- wide receiver Britt Davis, quarterback Dan Nicholson, defensive end Larry English and linebacker Tim McCarthy.

SENIOR STARTERS: Only three seniors have started games for Northern Illinois in 2007 - LT Chris Acevedo (6 starts), TE Brandon Davis (3) and SS Mark Reiter (3). Acevedo is the only senior to start every game this season along with kicker Chris Nendick. The Huskies feature only nine seniors on the roster this year and three of those - Adam Schroeder, Sal Ibarra and Cas Prime - are out for the season with injury.

CORPORAL COFFMAN: The story of Northern Illinois defensive end Jake Coffman is noteworthy, not just because the walk-on moved up to second on the depth chart for the Huskies before going down with a foot injury at Idaho. Coffman is a 23-year-old freshman from German Valley, Ill. who spent four years in the Marine Corps, and was promoted three times, rising to the rank of corporal. He was deployed to Iraq on two occasions. In 2006, Coffman enrolled at NIU and joined the football team. An all-conference player at Forreston High School, Coffman made nine tackles before he was injured.

SELECT COMPANY: Northern Illinois looks to extend its streak of winning seasons to eight in 2007 as the Huskies have posted a winning mark every year since 2000. NIU is one of only 18 FBS schools in the country that can make that claim, and has the longest current string of winning campaigns in the Mid-American Conference. The seven straight winning seasons is also a modern-day school record.

MOST-EXPERIENCED: The Huskies feature only three players - all juniors - who entered the 2007 campaign with more than one year of starting experience. Offensive tackle Jon Brost (29 starts), defensive end Larry English (87) and wide receiver Britt Davis (27) own more starts than any other players on the NIU team. While Brost leads the way in total number of starts, English has the most consecutive starts with 22.

NORTHERN ILLINOIS MULTIMEDIA
Watch It....on Comcast SportsNet Chicago. Dave Kaplan returns to provide the play-by-play while former coach Bob Chmiel joins the broadcast as the color analyst and Ken McReynolds will serve as color analyst.

Hear It...on the Huskie Sports Radio Network.Bill Baker returns for his 28th year as the play-by-play voice of the Huskies while Mark Lindo is back for his 23rd season on the broadcast team. Casey Kahler enters his second season as the adidas sideline reporter. WSCR-AM Chicago 670
WLBK-AM DeKalb 1360
WSEY-FM Rockford 95.7
WRHL-AM Rochelle 1060
WTJK-AM Beloit, Wisc. 1380

On the Net...to hear every Huskie Radio Network broadcast as well as SEE live video of select NIU games, sign up for the Huskie All Access package at www.niuhuskies.com. Purchase the monthly package for $6.95 or a season-long pass for $49.95.

Review It...on "Inside Huskie Sports", weekly on Comcast SportsNet Chicago. The 30-minute highlight show airs every Thursday at 4 p.m. Also, join Head Coach Joe Novak and host Brad Hoey at the live taping of "IHS" Mondays at 6 p.m. at Fatty's Pub and Grille, 1312 West Lincoln Highway in DeKalb.

Live It...on "NIU Live." The weekly 30-minute show airs on WSCR AM 670 "The Score" in Chicago Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. WSCR sports director Andy Garcia and Huskie athletic director Jim Phillips co-host the show with guest appearances by Northern coaches, including Joe Novak.

Read It...on www.niuhuskies.com. For the latest statistics, feature stories, player Q&As and weekly and daily updates.