Hey NIU, are you any good at math? Well, then, this article is for you. Today you can brush up on your arithmetic skills while trying to figure out the NIU football team’s chances of getting into a bowl game for the first time since 1983.

Here’s a few numbers – and all you have to do is some simple addition. So pull out your calculator, put in your pocket protector and let’s have some fun.

8 – That’s how many wins the Huskies have this season. It’s not the 10 they had last season, but all a team needs to get into a bowl this season is six – or seven if a school has a 12-game schedule. Henceforth, NIU has two more than it needed, which should put it ahead of some other team with six or seven wins.

56 – The number of open bowl bids. What a coincidence that as of right now, there are only 56 bowl-eligible teams. So as long as Tulane doesn’t sell its soul and beat No. 7 Louisville, and Hawaii goes back to its little island with a loss to Michigan State, NIU has to get a bowl bid.

67 – Inches. So he’s tiny, but the 5-foot-7 Garrett Wolfe is second in the nation in touchdowns with 20 and fourth in overall scoring. But he also missed a game with an injury and only had 34 carries in the first three games of the season. The little guy has more moves than a lambada dancer and is faster than Jeff Gordon on No-Doze. What bowl committee wouldn’t want him headlining their game?

27,052 – Big number, huh? That’s NIU’s average attendance for this season, which just so happens to lead the entire MAC. Pat yourself on the back, you may help NIU get into a bowl.

2003 – Yes this is about last season. The Huskies were ranked as high as No. 10, knocked off two ranked teams, won 10 games – or four more than Northwestern – and still didn’t get a bowl. A little compensation may be in order.

And the answer is one. Yeah, you may be saying the answer should be 29,186. Well you’re wrong. Sorry, but one is what the NIU football team is hoping for. Just one phone call saying they got just one bowl bid.

How sweet it would be to finally get to plop down on your couch this winter break and get to see NIU take on whomever. Or maybe you could actually watch the game in person. You know, maybe take a nice vacation to some exotic location like the MPC Computers Bowl in Boise, Idaho.

Wait, Boise? Maybe the addition is off.