Students come to college to study, get good grades and graduate. In their spare time, they usually support their school – in this case, the Huskies.

Besides a football team that can bring in over 20,000 fans a game, all other NIU athletics are suffering in attendance. One team that’s suffering (and shouldn’t be) is men’s soccer.

The fact is that around 750 people filled stands that are capable of holding 1,800.

Just by a quick glance, not even 100 of them were students. That’s being generous.

The second home match was even more embarrassing, with just over 200 people showing up to watch a 2-0 victory and who knows how many of those were students.

Men’s soccer averaged 160 per game last season, but this early improvement isn’t good enough.

These players and these coaches deserve a lot more from the student population for how much they sacrifice and how hard they work in the name of this university.

Head coach Eric Luzzi and his staff have already done the most they can to attract outside visitors to the soccer complex, but so far, there’s been no dramatic increase in students.

So what’s the solution?

Offer the soccer-interested students an atmosphere similar to that of a professional club: flags, chants, drums, flares, streamers and some extreme enthusiasm.

The best memories I can remember are the times in Section 8 of the Chicago Fire playoff games standing on my feet for the full 90, screaming songs until I had no voice and clapping until my hands were red and full of arthritis.

It’s not close to being the same environment as Milan, Barcelona or Manchester, but it’s something that pumps you up and burns into your mind until you return.

There are just three home matches left with Hartwick, Bowling Green and the No. 1 team and hated rival, Akron.

Around 25,000 students are enrolled at this university. There have to be at least 1,000 who are interested to watch the game of soccer, but there’s only one group capable of bringing these people together to form a soccer student section DeKalb has never seen: The Red Riot.