The scene was set.

A pregame and halftime fireworks show, along with perfect weather and a packed house of 24,182 people set the stage for the Huskies to officially welcome in the Yordon Center.

Chills ran down the spines of a filled-to-capacity crowd as the NIU football team ran out onto the field from the new state-of-the-art building. En route to the field, each player touched the new Huskie statue as they passed.

A new tradition of Huskie football is that all the players have to touch the Huskie when they pass it at all times, not just during their pregame sprint. This is no gimmick.

I personally saw coach Joe Novak yell at the running backs after a practice because they failed to properly give the Huskie the attention it demands.

The new addition and the new traditions made me realize that Huskie Stadium can bring quite an electric college football atmosphere.

Even though NIU lost the “Civil War” against a team of a lower division, no one can take away the fact that, if you stayed, it was one of the best college football games of the day.

That’s right. The battle between a mid-major team and its lower division rival to the south proved to have all the excitement one can look for in a college football game.

This also got me thinking that the NIU-SIU battle is becoming an intense rivalry; perhaps the best in the state.

Even the battle for cellar-dweller dominance between Big Ten schools Northwestern and Illinois can’t match this.

Three years ago, NIU squeaked away with a victory over SIU. This time SIU squeaked away with a victory over NIU.

Why not make this a yearly tradition?

Both teams were fired up Saturday night. SIU was playing in front of the biggest crowd they would see all season. The Saluki faithful proved to be a very loud and large gathering, while the NIU contingent was finally ready for a “real” home game.

Both sides traded back chants of “S-I-U” and “N-I-U” to see who could outlast the other. When it was all said and done, most Huskie fans felt embarrassed thinking their team had lost to an inferior team from the Gateway Conference.

But remember that this is a team that is routinely ranked and routinely advances in the playoffs.

So, the best way to duplicate the atmosphere that was present Saturday night is to make Northern versus Southern a yearly tradition. Instead of worrying about playing road games against powerhouse programs, let us take care of the games that mean the most to fans thirsty for state pride.