Saturday’s game against the Akron Zips proved several things. The most important of which was what should be done in the north end zone.

There used to be stands occupying the area that now has what looks like a couple of parked semis. However, the university hadn’t allowed anyone to sit in the stands because of the structure’s instability.

Although these new luxury trucks probably make the athletics department some decent money; give this area back to the students. Turn the north end zone into the official Dog Pound.

Putting students right off the field would help serve a couple of key elements. It would make NIU home football games more exciting for everyone.

NIU’s fifth game saw a group of students using one of these new luxury boxes. They took the opportunity of being so close to the field and ran with it, making sure they were heard all game long.

The football team seemed to feed off of their presence. Dan Sheldon returned the gratitude finding his way over to celebrate with the rambunctious students after his second-quarter punt return for a touchdown.

Closing off a third side of the stadium would also be more intimidating for Huskies opponents. Driving into the mouth of the lions’ den would be all that much harder with a couple hundred students yelling at the top of their lungs.

Student sections have the ability to affect the performance of an opponent. Just ask Akron assistant coach Brian Callahan how damaging Huskies fans can be to a football team’s mind-set.

Shortly after a three-and-out for the Akron offense, Callahan called a side-line meeting with his team that was overheard by a reporter on the sidelines.

This little team chat wasn’t about how poorly the offense was doing. It was more along the lines of the coach chewing out his team for letting the fans get into its head.

The candy-coated speech would have been “just ignore them.” However, a flurry of expletives turned those three words into a five-minute tirade.

The school needs to take advantage of its fans’ knack for getting under a team’s skin and allow NIU’s more colorful students a chance to shine.

The university shouldn’t be worried about students rushing the field and tearing down the goal posts after a game; there is enough security present to handle any situation.

Not even the Maryland game, dubbed one of NIU’s biggest wins ever, saw students rushing the field. So what are the chances that Central Michigan will gain that much respect from NIU students?