In addition to the football team going to a bowl game, NIU President John Peters said there’s a good possibility that all six bowl-eligible MAC teams will play in a postseason game.

The GMAC Bowl offered a bid to Conference USA’s Memphis (8-3) and the MAC’s Bowling Green (8-3) Tuesday. The bowl game will be the Falcons’ second consecutive year with a postseason game.

In 2003, Bowling Green beat Northwestern 28-24 in the Motor City Bowl.

“We are very excited about going to Mobile,” said BGSU coach Gregg Brandon in a press release. “We have an outstanding senior class who have elevated this program to national prominence, and we are honored to have the opportunity to play in the GMAC Bowl.”

The Motor City bowl also announced Tuesday that it will take the winner of Thursday’s MAC championship game between Toledo (8-3) and Miami-Ohio (8-3).

The MAC champion will face UConn (7-4) of the Big East Conference. UConn is making its first bowl appearance in school history.

As of Tuesday, 28 of 56 bowl spots had been accepted. Only 56 teams currently are eligible to receive bowl bids. Both Hawaii and Tulane also could become eligible.

NIU (8-3) would be eligible for the one remaining MAC tie-in, the Silicon Valley Football Classic or an at-large bowl bid. Peters said he and Athletic Director Jim Phillips were working to add to the three MAC tie-ins in hopes of NIU’s first bowl game since 1983.

“More are on the radar,” said Peters of MAC bowl tie-ins. “I think it’s possible five teams will go to bowl games – maybe six. We have at least four teams that deserve to go, and I think they will.”

The MAC’s six bowl-eligible teams are: NIU, Toledo, Bowling Green, Miami-Ohio, Marshall (6-5) and Akron (6-5).

“All the top teams are attractive of course,” GMAC Bowl President Jerry Silverstein said Tuesday before announcing the GMAC’s bid selections.

“They all have 8-3 records and bring a lot of things like offense, points and quality wins.”

NIU coach Joe Novak said he felt good about his team’s chances for a bowl bid.

Peters thought the Huskies chances at a bowl bid were higher now than after last season’s 10-2 effort.

“Our chances are better this year because we’re better-known,” Peters said. “You have to sell yourself: You have to have a good team, which we do. We’ve got something exciting. I’m reasonably optimistic.”

NIU’s MAC-leading attendance average of 27,052, running back Garrett Wolfe’s nationally-ranked rushing statistics, the national prominence gained through top-25 rankings this season and last season’s record were all selling points to bowl organizations, Peters said.