DETROIT – In the midst of the shifting and reshaping around the MAC, not much has changed for the NIU football team.

Marshall and Central Florida are off to Conference USA, and Bowling Green has moved back to the MAC East Division after a three-year stint in the West.

The Huskies, however, still play second fiddle to Toledo, which was picked by the MAC News Media Association to finish on top of the West Division for the second consecutive year.

Bowling Green received top honors in the East and was the popular choice to win the MAC Championship game.

The West, however, should be a two-team race between NIU and Toledo, but as the Huskies learned in 2003, championships aren’t won on paper in July.

We all remember the magical 2003 season, when fresh off being picked to win the MAC, the Huskies ran off seven straight wins, only to drop two of their last five games and finish third in the West.

The Huskies’ failure down the stretch cost them a chance at the conference championship and their first bowl appearance since 1983.

And although this will be a new season for the Huskies, many of the challenges will remain the same.

Look for Nov. 16 to be the biggest of NIU’s all-too-familiar hurdles. That will be the day the Huskies travel to Toledo for the game that will likely decide who represents the West in the MAC Championship game.

But to say that Toledo has NIU’s number is an understatement.

The Huskies have dropped 11 straight games to the Rockets, and each has been more disappointing than the last.

On top of that, the Huskies will have to find a way to stop Bruce Gradkowski, who is the only quarterback in Division I-A history to post back-to-back seasons with a completion rate better than 70 percent.

But even with the media and history against the Huskies, fans should have no fear.

With Smokin’ Joe Novak on the sidelines and the 1-2 punch of Garrett Wolfe and A.J. Harris at running back, the Huskies still have a great chance at turning familiar challenges into unfamiliar success: a MAC championship.