DeKALB | Last year was NIU football’s first win over Toledo after 16 straight years of losing.

The Huskies (5-4 overall, 3-2 MAC) will look to make it two straight over the Rockets (3-6, 1-4) at 6:30 p.m. today at Huskie Stadium. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.

NIU coach Joe Novak said that meetings between the two teams, in previous years, held strong MAC Championship game implications. This year is obviously different, even though the Huskies are not mathematically out of the MAC West race.

“They lost an NFL quarterback and have had a lot of injuries up front,” Novak said. “Their quarterback [Aaron Opelt] is a true freshman and he played well against Akron in their last game.”

It took Opelt five games to crack the starting lineup, but the 6-foot-2 rookie should come into the game with high hopes.

NIU possesses the worst passing defense in the MAC, allowing 285 yards per game. The Huskies have only four interceptions, but have recovered 12 fumbles on the season, making them No. 2 in the MAC with a plus-five turnover margin.

Fortunately for NIU, it had an extra three days to regroup its defense this past week.

If anything, Novak noted the time off aided the healthy return of freshman center Eddie Adamski. Fellow freshman Jason Onyebuagu started at center against Iowa after Adamski suffered an injury during NIU’s win over Temple.

“I guess I’m just an old traditionalist on college football,” Novak said. “And as much as I’m not a fan of playing during the week, we got 10 days off. I gave them Monday and Tuesday off, and we had a great practice on Wednesday. So at this point, it’s not bad to have a schedule like this.”