Three NIU starters didn’t practice Thursday after sustaining recent injuries.

Running back Garrett Wolfe did not play in Tueday’s 31-17 loss to Toledo due to an eye injury called hyphema, in which he has traumatized blood vessels and possible bleeding inside his eyeball. The injury was sustained when Wolfe tried to break up a fight early Sunday morning.

Both offensive guard Ben Lueck and defensive end Ken West did not practice because of injuries. West missed the entire second half of Tuesday’s game with a sprained ankle.

“It’s Game 11, so you’ve got that,” said NIU coach Joe Novak of the injuries. “Everyone at this point in the season is a little banged up, so we’ll just have to fight through until the end.”

Novak said all three are questionable to play against Eastern Michigan.

Attendance record broken

With an attendance of 27,719 for NIU’s final home game of the season against Toledo, Huskies fans broke a season-average attendance record for the second straight year.

The Huskies finished with a season-attendance average of 27,052, beating the previous record of 23,575, set in 2003.

“They’ve been great,” said Novak of Huskies fans. “After the result of that game, I was very disappointed for our players and the people that have supported us so well.

The record comes despite a column written by ESPN.com’s Wayne Drehs, which blasted Huskies football fans for leaving early and caring more about bars and vodka than the game.

Unlucky 11

NIU’s loss to Toledo Tuesday was not only the 11th straight loss to the Rockets, it was the first loss at Huskie Stadium since 2002. Toledo, which snapped NIU’s 11-game home winning streak, was also the last team that beat the Huskies in DeKalb. The Rockets edged out the Huskies 33-30 in 2002.

“The fans here have been a little bit spoiled because we’d won those 11 games at home,” Novak said. “We didn’t want to lose, and I feel bad for our players, but our fans have been great.”

Novak also said the fans were a big part of the streak. “When it’s empty here, it’s negative,” Novak said. “When they’re here, our players feed off of that.”

Rooting for Bowling Green

At 7 p.m. Nov. 23, Novak will be watching the Toledo-Bowling Green matchup on ESPN2, and he knows who he’ll be cheering for.

“I’m wearing brown and orange, I know that,” Novak said. “I’m a Bowling Green fan.”

For NIU to win the MAC West championship and go to the MAC title game, Bowling Green will need to beat Toledo and NIU will have to beat Eastern Michigan Nov. 20.

“Unfortunately, it’s out of our control,” Novak said. “We have to take care of our business, and that’s beating Eastern Michigan. After that, we’ll all become Bowling Green fans.”

“That’s why you play – to get in situations like that. I wish we’d played better, but we didn’t. It’s great, though; this is why you do it.”

This season will be the third straight in which NIU hopes for a Toledo loss to break a tie in the MAC West.

“It’s happened to us a few times,” Novak said. “You’d rather be in control, but we didn’t get it done. Everybody in this league has lost a game, we’ve lost one, but so has everybody else in this game, so it’s still wide open.”