It’s spring. The flowers are blooming, the weather is nice – on most days – and the ladies are showing off more skin.

But there is another reason to look forward to the changing of seasons this year.

Not since NIU football coach Joe Novak was rockin’ a full head of hair as a player at Miami (Ohio) have the Huskies seen the beginnings of a thing called tradition.

When NIU kicks off its annual Spring League Intrasquad game 7 p.m. Thursday at Huskie Stadium, it will mark the beginning of what they hope will be a winning season for a fourth-straight year.

It hasn’t been since a stretch from 1962-’66 that NIU football experienced four or more winning seasons in a row.

With a schedule that includes the likes of such non-conference powers as Maryland, Iowa State and Alabama on the road, the odds to making it four winning seasons in a row would look unlikely. But that’s without the knowledge of this year’s Huskie team.

Novak, in his eighth year as head of NIU football, calls this year’s team potentially the best that he’s ever coached.

Returning off an 8-4 record from 2002, the Huskies are working on back-to-back MAC Co-Championships.

On Thursday, while tailgating before the game and the actual game should be fun, the stars won’t be shinning as brightly as usual.

Players such as quarterback Josh Haldi, wide receiver P.J. Fleck and running back Michael Turner, among others, aren’t expected to play because of either injuries or precautionary reasons.

Because of the large number of injuries that NIU has experienced this off-season, the format of the Spring League game also will change.

Last year, it was offense versus defense, but this year it will be first stringers versus the rest of the team.

Last season, when the defense dominated and won by a wide margin, the scoring system was as follows: seven points for a fumble recovery or interception touchdowns, three points for a blocked field goal, two points for a three-down and out and one point for stopping a drive without a score.

This year, all of that is thrown out the window, with the regular scoring system in place.