DeKALB | Saturday will be the culmination.

A week full of events displaying school pride and spirit will cap off as the Huskies celebrate NIU’s 100th Homecoming game against Temple.

Yes, thousands of students have been showing off their school pride this week…just secretly.

According to the Campus Activity Board, which organizes the homecoming events, only 12 of the more than 200 student organizations are participating in homecoming week. Last year wasn’t much better. Only 13 organizations participated.

But this is college — high school is over. For some reason NIU students are too cool, too mature or just gave up caring about participating in the tradition. Wacky events, dressing up in silly costumes and everything else that comes with Homecoming evidently was left in high school.

Even Coach Joe Novak agrees that Homecoming isn’t something special anymore.

“Oh, you want me to be honest. Homecoming’s the next game, and I’m not being an old diddy diddy here,” Novak said. “Maybe that’s not the right thing to say, but it’s the truth in my opinion.”

It seems as if homecoming has become just a label to slap on a home football game – like a Hallmark holiday. But that wasn’t always the case.

Political science professor Dr. Gary Glenn remembers a different version of Homecoming, one he witnessed when he first came to NIU in 1966.

Back then the alumni would return to visit with their former professors and other faculty, and not just for the football game. More surprising, the faculty would look forward to seeing their past students. Even weirder, the students were heavily involved in homecoming activities and cared. Back then, the parade was actually a big deal.

Glenn has a theory as to why Homecoming lost its luster: it stems from when NIU left the MAC in 1986 to go independent.

The theory goes on to explain there are two goals for a college football program — to create a community between the program, students and the town, and to be recognized outside of the university.

Unfortunately, the MAC wasn’t helping with the later goal, so NIU decided to leave. It wasn’t a bad choice, Glenn thinks, but a risky one. The risk: losing the students and the community.

It’s his belief that this negative consequence occurred, and the football team hasn’t been able to reconnect fully with the students and community ever since.

The proof: look at the lack of involvement by students in homecoming events. Nothing has been done around campus to announce that it’s Homecoming — heck, a visitor wouldn’t know unless he or she were told. And where is the community involvement? It seems as if Homecoming only exists in name and in memories.

But some students still believe Homecoming is important, one of them being NIU free safety Dustin Utschig.

“Homecoming means a lot,” Utschig said. “Being a senior, it means a lot. You definitely don’t want to leave a mark on a program losing your Homecoming.”

How does Glenn explain Utschig’s statement? Habit. It’s the habits from the past that continue what we know as Homecoming. Nothing more than the reason that it was done before us is what keeps it going.

Maybe Novak was right when he said Homecoming is “for the marketing people.”

Happy 100th Homecoming, NIU. It’s a wonder what 200 will look like.