DeKALB | Like battered warriors returning from war, the NIU football team expected a warm homecoming after opening the season on the road against Ohio State.

Tickets for the east side of Huskie Stadium, the student side, sold out on the eve of last Saturday’s game.

Yet as NIU kicked off the start of MAC competition, large gaps remained in the east side of the stadium.

About 6,800 student tickets were distributed before the game.

But Saturday, only 4,800 students decided to make their presence felt on a day with a comfortable temperature of 72 degrees and the skies that stayed clear of rain.

The lack of students on the east side made for voids of emptiness within Huskie Stadium — especially in the upper corner near the north end zone.

“We’re trying to investigate and strategize why student turnout was so low,” said athletic director Jim Phillips. “Honestly, I’m not sure why.”

Although the student section had plenty of elbow room, 600 students had to be accommodated on the west side of the stadium, as the east side was technically sold out.

Eric Schultz, director of the ticket office, said he would “never turn a student away” for a chance to cheer for the Huskies at a home game.

“[But] it’s virtually impossible to reverse tickets,” Schultz said, referring to letting students enter the east side the day of the game if tickets are technically sold out. “There’s really no way to do that.”

NIU used to use a system where students swiped their OneCard the day of the game to enter the east side.

This solution allowed for the student section to only be full when it reached capacity, but led to other problems.

“They had people who didn’t get into the game till after the first quarter,” Schultz said. “[Tickets] allow for a better ease into the stadium.”

Even if the 600 students who had to sit on the west side moved to the east, the student section still would be under capacity by 1,400 fans.

The NIU home opener was the second-largest conference game of the year thus far with a crowd of 19,341 — only the game between Western Michigan and Toledo was larger, with an audience of 24,806.

But 19,341 fans is a lower-than-expected number compared to the average attendance of 27,052 in 2004 or 22,176 in 2005.

“I’m perplexed at the problem,” Phillips said. “Ticketing for students has never been as easy as it has been now.”

Ben Gross is an NIU football beat reporter for the Northern Star.