There’s no better way to ring in Homecoming than by scheduling a school’s rival.

That’s exactly what NIU did this year by tabbing the Toledo Rockets for the Northern Illinois 102nd Homecoming.

For those new to Huskies football, this has been a bitter rivalry for the past decade or so. During the Joe Novak era, the Huskies were consistently in prime position to make the MAC Championship, only to be knocked out of that chance by Toledo.

The rivalry shifted in the 2005 game.

The Huskies were led by 177 yards and two touchdowns by Garrett Wolfe and the defense shut down record-setting Toledo quarterback Bruce Gradkowski for 168 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions.

Until that victory, NIU had lost 11 in-a-row to the Rockets and 14 straight inside Toledo’s Glass Bowl.

The Huskies did not fare quite as well in the 2006 game.

With the score 17-13 in the final seconds, inside the five yard line, a fourth down Phil Horvath pass was batted away and NIU lost.

Last year’s game is probably one to forget. Toledo hammered the Huskies 70-21 in the Glass Bowl.

The game could have been better for NIU if the slew of injuries didn’t keep so many starters off the field for most of the 2007 season.

That note brings me to this year’s game. After a 49-point defeat a year ago, and a new head coach in Jerry Kill, NIU will be looking to write a new chapter in this rivalry with a win.

This isn’t Ohio State – Michigan, but it is a rivalry. And rivals are always a game to get a little extra primed for, which is why Homecoming is the perfect time for NIU to host Toledo.

Homecoming is usually one of the most attended games during the season. Many of the students tailgate, hit the local establishments and consume for pre-game to be good and rowdy for the game. Even if they don’t know the rivalry, they’ll be loud.

Don’t forget the alumni that flock to DeKalb for Homecoming. They know what this rivalry means. They’ll be there in full force too.

And though many players see Homecoming as just another game, which it may be, the fact they are facing Toledo will get this team and its fans pumped up.

With that said, I think NIU needs to look at a rival team for Homecoming every year, instead of the occasional cupcake team and lower-level conference team.

If NIU does this it will certainly put more meaning into the tradition of Homecoming.

An already long-standing tradition with Toledo could be elevated to a level beyond anything the MAC has seen before.

No offense to the MAC, but it is not a conference filled with great rivalry traditions or traditions in general.

NIU and Toledo are two of the conference’s premier programs historically, and in my opinion the biggest rivalry in the conference.

The ball is in the respective colleges’ court. It’s time to make this rivalry even more memorable and shape it into one of college football’s greatest rivalries. It all starts with tradition – and tradition starts now.