NIU football’s final non-conference slot was filled Tuesday with a home game against Division I-AA Southern Illinois, along with already scheduled road games against Maryland and Iowa State.

SIU finished 10th in the I-AA rankings last season with a 10-2 record.

On consecutive Saturdays, the Huskies will travel to Maryland on Sept. 4, host SIU Sept. 11 and travel to Iowa State on Sept. 18.

NIU will play only 11 games in 2004 because of NCAA regulations, therefore, decreasing its out-of-conference games. The Huskies played 12 games in 2003 and 2002 because of a longer season, as set by the NCAA.

“We’re excited,” NIU football coach Joe Novak said. “[SIU] obviously has an excellent program. They’ve done some of the same things we have in our program. I anticipate a spirited crown. They’re in-state, so there’s an automatic rivalry there.”

The Salukis have a large alumni pool in the Chicago area, which attracted NIU to offer SIU an invitation to Huskie Stadium, said NIU’s Associate Athletics Director Robert Collins.

“There are a lot of Salukis throughout the state,” SIU football coach Jerry Kill said, “especially in the Chicago area. For our fans, this is a great game. These two teams have done a great job and turned their programs around.”

Both Kill and Novak pointed out similarities between the two teams’ histories. Southern Illinois improved from 4-8 a year ago to 10-2 in 2003. The Salukis won a share of the Gateway Conference regular-season title for the first time in school history, advancing to the I-AA playoffs for the first time since 1983.

Kill, who coached his third season at SIU this year, called Novak last season for advice on how to turn his team around.

“I told him to keep doing what he believed in, and that’s what he did,” Novak said.

Kill, who finished second in the I-AA coach of the year voting in 2003, said he modeled his program after what Novak had done: He turned a losing football team into a winning program.

Though excited, SIU realizes its limitations, Kill said.

“Novak is as good as anyone in the country,” Kill said. “He’s a good man, and I have a great deal of respect for him and his program. This allows us to play a Division-I opponent. We’ll go up there and play as hard as we can play, but at the same time, we realize we’re I-AA and have fewer scholarships than NIU does.”

With two recently successful in-state teams, Novak and administrators hope the only home non-conference opponent will be able to fill Huskie Stadium.

“We think it’s a great opponent for us,” Collins said. “Southern Illinois is coming off a great year, and Northern Illinois is coming off a great year. As far an an in-state school coming to Huskie Stadium, you’ve got an inbred rivalry right there.”