Let us simply look at the record, and a picture of the 1986 season—and the stage the NIU football program has reached—naturally emerges.

Five wins, five losses and one tie. The five wins, three more than in 1986, show you progress. The five losses illustrate the wrinkles yet to be ironed.

And then there’s the tie—there we see a black-and-white representation of the giant “ifs” the NIU program can’t get away from.

First of all, if John Ivanic hadn’t kicked the last-minute field goal at Northwestern, NIU would have had a losing season. For once, an if fell in NIU’s favor.

But then, if Keith Hurley hadn’t been forced out of bounds on a last-second two-point try against Cal State-Fullerton, or if Eastern Michigan’s Gary Patton hadn’t thrown a last-minute option pass for two points and a victory, the Huskies would have had a winning season.

On still another hand, if Vergil Gerin’s diving grab in the end zone against Lamar on opening night had been ruled in bounds, the Huskies would have had a winning season.

Borrowing a page from Paul Harvey’s book and finding out the rest of the story still reveals a team characterized by the “1” in the “5-5-1”.

We see an offense that fulfilled offensive coordinator Pat Ruel’s preseason expectations for “a marked improvement, both in terms of points scored and yardage.”

The wishbone earned a season-long residency on the NCAA offensive charts, generating 27.7 points per game, with 295.1 rushing yards and 401.8 total yards per game. NIU offensive records were set in total yardage (4,420), rushes (701) and first downs (244).

But, when the wishbone couldn’t make the 10th yard, the punting team came on—and problems arose. Three blocked and several hurried punts were indicative of the poor special teams play that plagued the Huskies all year. For example, NIU opponents finished the year with 1,229 kickoff return yards.

The defense showed a knack for the big play, registering 24 interceptions on the year to finish among the nation’s leaders in that category.

But, when it wasn’t picking them off, the NIU defense had trouble defending opponents passes. The enemy averaged 178.1 yards passing per game—and NIU faced a lot of rushing teams. The Huskie defenders also showed a tendancy to dig a hole for their offensive mates, as NIU was outscored 79-41 in the first quarter in 1987.

When looking at the personnel, we see great expectations were borne out in many areas, and pleasant surprises popped up on both sides of the ball.

Junior quarterback Marshall Taylor was the offensive catalyst, producing 826 net yards rushing and seven touchdowns. Cornerback Randall Townsel had five interceptions. Ivanic came from nowhere to tie Northwestern and beat Nevada-Las Vegas. Newcomer defenders Cary Caliendo and Kevin Cassidy were Freshmen All-Americans.

The talent and the .500 record make it fair to say the NIU program is improving, heading in the right direction.

At the same time, there has to come a day when NIU stops saying “if.”