The time couldn’t be better for a mid-major football team to shoot for a bowl bid.

While 58 teams have at least the necessary six wins to play in a bowl, South Carolina and Clemson announced last week they would not accept any invitations, lowering the number of currently eligible teams to 56 – the exact number of bowl bids available.

Both teams will not go to a bowl game as punishment for a bench-clearing brawl Nov. 20 between the two teams.

“Obviously, it opens a couple more bowls for some at-large teams,” NIU quarterback Josh Haldi said. “It’s too bad that it happened, but we’re not going to apologize if we accept a bowl bid because of it.”

If Tulane (5-5) upsets No. 7 Louisville (9-1) on Saturday, the number of bowl-qualified teams would increase to 57. Hawaii (6-5) will need to beat Michigan State on Saturday to make 58 bowl-eligible teams. Hawaii needs the win because it has a 12-game schedule.

If both teams lose, the number would remain at 56.

“We’ve got a real good shot,” Haldi said. “Hopefully things will work out and the football gods will help us out.”

The ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC did not produce enough qualified teams to fill out their preseason bowl tie-ins, freeing up those games for other eligible teams.

NIU (8-3) is one of six bowl-eligible MAC teams.

All four ESPN.com experts predict NIU will play in its first bowl since 1983. Ivan Maisel and Rece Davis both have the Huskies playing in the Silicon Valley Football Classic against Fresno St., while Pat Forde and Dave Revsine predict the Huskies will play Minnesota in the Motor City Bowl.

“We’re qualified, bowl-eligible and with our numbers in ‘04 there’s a good chance we’ll go to a bowl,” said NIU Associate Athletics Director Robert Collins.

The Huskies have not practiced since Tuesday and will have a team meeting today, Haldi said.

The MAC has three bowl tie-ins this season for the first time in the conference’s 58-year history: the Dec. 27 Motor City Bowl in Detroit, the Dec. 22 GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala. and the Dec. 30 Silicon Valley Football Classic in San Jose, Calif.

Road Trip

A look at the three bowls college football experts have NIU playing in

Silicon Valley Football Classic

San Jose, Calif. -2,108 miles

32.5 hours from DeKalb

Motor City Bowl

Detroit, Mich. -343 miles

5.5 hours from DeKalb

MPC Computers Bowl

Boise, Idaho – 1,630 miles

25 hours from DeKalb