DeKALB | NIU football coach Joe Novak said last week’s Homecoming was something better left to the marketing department. It looks like Novak was right.

For the first time this season, Huskie stadium was packed with 27,039 fans — at least for the first half.

That’s good enough in my books to be a sellout. At least when you compare that number to the crowds of 19,341, 21,117, and 19,720 that were splattered around the stadium in the first three home games.

Yes, for the first time since 2001, NIU is in danger of having its football attendance drop below 20,000 a game. And it seems the athletic department has come to this realization too after only 21,117 fans showed up on a Saturday night to watch NIU beat Buffalo 31-13.

Just two seasons ago NIU led the MAC in attendance with an average of 27,502 fans. While that was a banner year, it appeared as if the Huskies had finally made it to the top.

But now, NIU doesn’t even lead the MAC in average attendance. Toledo, a school that‘s in last place in the MAC West, does!

But what’s even worse is the athletic department’s solution.

For the last two home games, all students living in the residence halls have received free football tickets in their mailboxes.

The idea behind this change in ticket policy is it’s been too hard for students to pick up their free student tickets. So, now there is a free delivery service for them.

Well, if memory serves me right, there was no such service back in 2004. But that didn’t stop the stadium from being packed every game.

So how is it that in a matter of two years it has become so much harder for students to get tickets? Answer: it hasn’t.

The real problem isn’t lazy students, it’s students who no longer desire to go to games. I don’t know why, but I’ll throw out some theories.

Maybe it’s because the games are scattered around the schedule. With a lack of Saturday afternoon games, it’s hard for college students who work nights to attend more than two games this season.

Or maybe our fans are of the fair-weather variety. Too many students could have expected a magical win against Ohio State. After a loss to the No. 1 team in the country, these students were ready to call the season a bust.

And my favorite hypothesis — television.

In 2004 more than half of the football games were televised, a first in NIU history. The idea of cheering for the Huskies in the comfort of your house was still foreign to the school.

But now, two years later, the whole schedule is on TV, and students are content with staying in the comfort of their house. If it’s rainy, cold or semi-cloudy, students can still watch the game. I mean, if I’m too lazy to go pick up a ticket, what makes you think I’m going to walk all the way to the stadium?

Yes, we had a good attendance at the last game, but it was Homecoming and NIU got lucky. Against Indiana State, free tickets were handed out in the residence halls and the attendance was 19,720, more than 7,000 fewer than Homecoming.

With two night games left this season, both on weeknights, NIU will be lucky if it finishes the season with an average attendance above 20,000.

No matter what, the problem is this: students are not going to the game because they choose not to, not because it’s too hard to get tickets. Delivering free tickets isn’t going to solve this problem.