The future of the NIU football team will be directly affected by the 6:30 p.m. Bowling Green at Miami-Ohio game today on ESPN2.

If Miami (7-1, 4-0 MAC) can beat Bowling Green (7-1, 4-0 MAC), the Huskies will move into a tie for the lead in the MAC West Division.

NIU would need to win out and Bowling Green would need to lose one more time for the Huskies to advance to the MAC Championship.

Bowling Green holds the tiebreaker over the Huskies because of its 34-18 win on Oct. 25.

Bowling Green plays Kent State next week at home, then travels to Ball State and finishes the season against Toledo at home.

“It’s not hard to watch,” NIU coach Joe Novak said. “It’s frustrating. But we put ourselves in this position. We made our bed, now we have to lie there.”

Sheldon appeals

Junior wide receiver Dan Sheldon will petition the NCAA for a redshirt this year.

The NCAA standard for obtaining a redshirt is playing 20 percent of the season or less. With each team playing 12 games, the magic number for a redshirt is three games.

Sheldon dislocated his left elbow in the fifth game of the season against Ohio.

However, Sheldon only played in four games his true freshman year because of an injury, and will attempt to petition for a medical hardship from the NCAA at the end of the season.

Sheldon said depending on how his elbow heals, he may be able to return this year if NIU makes a bowl game. He said he would bypass a redshirt year if he were able to return.

Boogie back in action

After missing all of last year with a knee injury, junior free safety Lionel “Boogie” Hickenbottom returned to the starting secondary this year with high expectations.

The year started slowly for Hickenbottom, but Saturday’s win over Ball State showed he’s happy to be back.

He was named MAC West Defensive Player of the Week after he tied a team-high with nine tackles, returned his fifth career interception 18 yards and had a pass deflection in the win.

Hickenbottom had four interceptions in 2001 for the Huskies.

Toledo time change

NIU’s game on Nov. 15 against Toledo has been changed to a 2 p.m. start time.

The game originally was scheduled for a 6 p.m. start, but the game was named the MAC Game of the Week, which will be broadcast on Fox Sports Net.

Grant nurses knee

Last Wednesday in practice, senior strong safety Akil Grant injured his posterior cruciate ligament and sat out NIU’s 48-24 win over Ball State.

Grant had not missed a game since starting his career as a true freshman.

The Kankakee native had played in 42 straight games for the Huskies dating back to Aug. 31, 2000, against Northwestern.

Novak said he might be available next week.

Help returns

Defensive ends Travis Moore and Jason Frank returned to the Huskies lineup in their win over Ball State on Saturday.

The two players combined for three tackles and a sack.

Moore had been out since the fourth game against Iowa State and Frank was hurt two weeks later against Central Michigan.

EMU coach canned

Eastern Michigan football coach Jeff Woodruff was fired Monday.

Woodruff was 9-34 during his four seasons as the Eagles coach, and 1-8 this year.

Assistant coach/running backs coach Al Lavan will take over for Woodruff.

Lavan will remain the head coach on an interim basis as EMU searches nationally for a new coach.

Where’s Waldo?

Coming into last week’s game against NIU, Ball State wide receiver Dante Ridgeway had eight touchdown catches.

The sophomore caught 59 passes for 766 yards in eight games, including a season-high 152 yards and 10 catches last week in a win over Toledo.

As a result, defensive coordinator Scott Shafer instituted a plan based on a children’s book.

The defense called Ridgeway “Waldo” and was supposed to locate him on every play.

Ridgeway wasn’t wearing Waldo’s trademark striped clothes, but NIU was able to find and limit him to four catches for 49 yards and a touchdown.