Home field advantage. How much does it mean?

The NIU football team plays Western Michigan Wednesday at Huskie Stadium for its chance to claim the MAC West division title and a shot to play in the MAC Championship game on Dec. 1 in its last game of the regular season.

But with no classes on Wednesday, students leaving for Thanksgiving break, workers at their jobs, the winter season approaching and the game being broadcast on ESPN2, can the team count on the Huskie faithful to fill the stadium with cardinal and black one last time?

“I urge them to come,” NIU football coach Joe Novak said. “This is to put us in the championship game. It’s on national television. They’ll be bowl people here. It’s all part of it and that’s what [athletic director] Jim Phillips has to sell.”

In an attempt to put more fans in the seats, Phillips and the athletics department sent an e-mail out to NIU faculty and staff November 4, offering two free tickets to every staff member at NIU. Those tickets are for seats in the student section on the east side of the stadium.

“It was our gesture of good will toward the staff as well as trying to get more people in the stands,” said Eric Schultz, director of the ticket office in the Convocation Center. “If they’re staying on campus to work, we’re asking them if they would take a half-day off and come support the team.”

Also, CAB and the athletics department are co-hosting a 13-hour bonfire-tailgating party that begins at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday in the east tailgate lot.

Free food will be offered throughout, with breakfast starting at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday. From 11:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. to game time free music will be provided.

NIU has drawn an average of 23,130 fans per game in its four home games this year, lower than its MAC-leading average of 27,052 a year ago.

Student ticket pick-up began Thursday, and according to Schultz as of Sunday, “a couple hundred of tickets” have been given out.

“We’re assuming we won’t have the best of crowds,” Schultz said. “But the focus is going to be on the outcome and not the stands because anytime we’re on television it helps.”

Before ESPN2 decided to broadcast NIU’s game, the two teams were scheduled to play at 7 p.m. Tuesday night.

Schultz said that NIU is in a better position than Akron and Kent State, who will play at 10:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving on ESPN2.

“We’d greatly appreciate it if everyone was able to come and support the team,” Wolfe said. “Obviously we play more passionately when people stay here for the game. But before we started winning, people weren’t coming, and we changed that. This is our chance to accomplish something very great and special.”

– Sports Editor Steve Brown contributed to this article