During football coach Joe Novak’s first year at NIU, the team averaged 12,964 people for its five home games – less than half of the stadium’s 30,075 total capacity.

Seven years later, things have changed at NIU.

Huskie Stadium has sold out three times this season -something never done before this year.

“Northern is the toughest place to play in the MAC,” Central Michigan coach Mike DeBord said. “The students are right behind you harassing you the whole game. The student body is tough.”

NIU is 13-4 in the last three years at home, and 6-0 at home this season with one game remaining.

As for the Huskies going on the road, a couple of stadiums have their number.

NIU has played at Marshall once since rejoining the MAC in 1997, losing 41-9 in 1999. Before this year, Marshall lost only once in 19 home games.

“The toughest place to play in the MAC is Marshall,” NIU wide receiver P.J. Fleck said. “The crowd is not very friendly. They love their football in West Virginia.”

NIU has played at Toledo three times since 1997.

The result: zero wins and a combined score of 126-48.

Toledo, like Marshall, was 18-1 in the last three years at home before this year.

Despite seating only 26,248, the third least in the conference, the Glass Bowl at Toledo was packed with a MAC-record 36,502 people when NIU visited on Sept. 29, 2001.

Aside from the fans, NIU defensive end Vinson Reynolds found another problem at Toledo.

“They’ve got bad turf,” Reynolds said. “At walk-throughs, we tried on three different pairs of shoes. At halftime, we still had guys changing.”

Toledo and Marshall have one thing in common: the close proximity of the stands to the field.

At Bowling Green, the area marked off for the players comes within five feet of the stands.

Players are closer than speaking distance from the BGSU fans.

As for non-conference games, Alabama has the toughest stadiums, according to the Huskies.

“The toughest place not in the MAC was Alabama,” Fleck said. “There are 90,000 people who love football. The national championship banners are intimidating.”

Senior cornerback Randee Drew’s toughest stadium was just three hours southeast of Tuscaloosa at Auburn.

Drew played as a freshman in front of 79,635 people at Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium, the seventh largest on-campus stadium in the country.

Going into bigger stadiums is something MAC schools do every year.

This season, MAC schools traveled to Alabama, Virginia Tech, Iowa, Wisconsin and Tennessee, among others.

When Central Michigan traveled to Michigan for its opener, DeBord kept it simple.

“At Michigan, it’s not the crowd that’s tough,” DeBord said. “It’s the biggest stadium in the country. I told our team to focus on the white lines. Don’t look up or around at the crowd. Get caught up in the game, not the crowd.”