Last year’s Poinsettia Bowl berth seems like a distant memory.

The NIU football team wrapped up its injury-filled campaign with a 27-21 Senior Day loss to bowl-hopeful Ball State on Saturday at Huskie Stadium.

The Huskies (2-10, 1-6) suffered their worst season since 1997, when they finished 0-11.

“I’m proud of these kids,” head coach Joe Novak said. “After Wisconsin and Toledo, we were reeling big time. To compete like we did against the Naval Academy and a darn good football team in Ball State, I’m proud. I told them in the locker room that next year starts on Monday. I challenged them to get it done. I think there’s potential in that locker room to be a championship football team.”

As the case has been for the past three weeks, the Huskies competed hard against a good team. NIU was down 17-14 at the half and after the Cardinals jumped out to a 13-point lead midway through the fourth quarter, the Huskies battled back and cut the lead to six with 1:32 left in the game. However, a failed onside kick attempt sealed the deal for BSU.

The Ball State defense pressured NIU quarterback Ryan Morris all day and held the Huskies to negative one-yard rushing.

“They had good speed overall and brought good blitzes,” Morris said. “They were good up front and brought a lot of heat.”

The Huskies had three scoring drives, all of which were of at least 70 yards.

Quite possibly the most impressive drive of the game, and of the season, came in the first quarter. NIU used a fake punt and a critical pass interference call on a third-and-long to sustain a 15-play, 70-yard drive that ended with a five-yard touchdown pass to Greg Turner to put the Huskies up 7-3. However, on that same drive, starting running back Justin Anderson fell to the ground after receiving a hand-off and left the game with a torn PCL in his left knee. Luckily, the injury will not require surgery.

“He’ll probably have six to eight weeks of rehab,” Novak said of Anderson, who finished the season fourth in the MAC in rushing with 1,245 yards. “He sure had a great year for us, He played pretty roughed up the past few weeks.”

After the game, Novak sidestepped the question of whether or not he’ll return next year, simply saying, “We’ll talk about that later. We’ll see.”

Instead, the 12-year NIU head coach focused on talking about how far the program has come.

“Last year, we were 7-5 and in a bowl game and everyone was upset,” Novak said. “That’s how far along we’ve come and that’s great.”