While the typical fan in the stands may not think making noise actually can help their team, they are wrong.

Noise can make all the difference, and this point stood true during Saturday’s football game against Miami (Ohio).

“It’s a lot easier to play on defense when your crowd is loud and getting into it,” said NIU wide receiver Nathan Palmer after the game. “The fans’ energy is what really helped us.”

What Palmer is referring to is the crowd support during the second half of the football game. The crowd was getting noisy and rowdy during the key times Miami was on offense. The players attributed this noise to helping them stave off the RedHawks during the final seconds to hold on to a victory.

“[The crowd] being loud at the end really helped our defense…they played with a lot more energy at the end,” Palmer said.

NIU head coach Jerry Kill even put a challenge to his players to help get the crowd into the game. Several players grabbed towels and starting waving them in the air at the direction of the crowd, trying to get the fans pumped up. But when that wasn’t seeming to have the desired effect, linebacker Kendal Farlow improvised.

“[Coach Kill] challenged us about the towels but the towels didn’t really get it,” Farlow said. “So I grabbed a white board and put ‘get loud’ on it.”

The effort paid off as the crowd got excited and helped the defense in the final minutes of the game.

But there is a problem with all of this.

The noise only occurred in the second half. And the players noticed it.

“The fans were kind of making us mad at first,” said NIU defensive lineman John Hopkins. “They weren’t getting up and they were dead.”

It is understandable when the game is going slow and there isn’t much scoring, fans will be dormant.

However, when the players even notice this lack of energy, it affects them too.

Homecoming, this Saturday, is against Toledo and there isn’t a better occasion for the fans to be out in full force and be as loud as they can for the entire game. Even the football team wants this game to be something special.

“Come out to the game ready to cheer loud,” Palmer said. “Lose your voice if you have to.”

Consider this another challenge from the football team to the fans – come to the homecoming game, stay the entire game, be as loud as you can and have fun with the team.

And as fans, it’s time to respond to the challenge. There will be Thunderstix at the game, and with revenge on the mind after the Toledo game last year (NIU lost 70-21), be as loud as possible.

Grab the opportunity to use your outside voice.