Josh Haldi, please get healthy. NIU desperately needs you back A.S.A.P.

The Huskies have Bowling Green at home just three days from now and they can’t be embarrassed on national TV for the second-consecutive year.

These are the pleas that can be heard from NIU students and football fans these days, especially after Saturday’s debacle at Iowa State.

With Haldi’s replacement, Phil Horvath, struggling to say the least, it is very easy to jump on the bandwagon and begin calling for his job.

After all, three games into this season and the redshirt sophomore has six interceptions while leading the Huskies to a less-than-stellar 1-2 mark.

But before the entire campus joins the “Heave Horvath Committee,” consider this: Haldi was just as bad his first few games, and now he’s a proven quarterback whose absence has left a giant hole in a very successful Huskies program.

Furthermore, these past three games were the first games the redshirt sophomore Horvath has played in since he graduated from Naperville Central in 2002. Not to make an excuse, but you can’t expect him to pick up right where Haldi left off.

And Horvath hasn’t made excuses for his play either. After the loss to Iowa State, Horvath owned up to his performance and admitted he blew the game.

“It’s my fault; I put it all on me,” Horvath said.

Horvath’s complete line for this season is as follows: 54.9 completion percentage for 652 yards, six interceptions and six touchdowns. Horvath actually has a higher pass efficiency rating (123.7) than preseason Heisman Trophy candidate and Akron quarterback Charlie Frye (121.3).

After Haldi’s first three starts of his NIU career, his line looked similar: 48.1, 622, four picks and two touchdowns. The Huskies were also 1-2 in those starts.

In 2002, Haldi’s performance, much like Horvath’s, left many doubters and people out for his head.

One Northern Star columnist even got in on the act saying: “There is no need for this pathetic passing attack, regardless of whether the quarterback has started four years or four games.”

Now that columnist is just one of the many who didn’t give Haldi time and he is now eating his words.

One post on an NIU message board recently read: “In the second half, Horvath looked like a struggling varsity high school quarterback, not a NCAA Division I QB. He was just … pathetic.”

Hasn’t Haldi’s career proven anything to Huskies fans? That’s not to say Horvath will be anywhere near as good as Haldi, who entered this season with a chance to break the NIU career passing record, but let’s not discard the possibility of him getting better.

Besides, what is coach Joe Novak going to do about it, start Horvath’s backup – an even less experienced freshman in Chris Carr?

When asked about Haldi’s return, Novak said Haldi was going to see a doctor yesterday and that his status would not be known until game day.

So as it stands, the campus will wait this week holding its breath wondering who will take that first snap Friday against the Falcons. Will it be the struggling Horvath, or the fresh-off-a-stress-fracture-in-his-planting-foot Haldi?