Senior defensive tackle Anthony Falbo will have surgery on his dislocated right wrist Thursday and be sidelined for the rest of the season.

The 6-foot-3, 283-pound Falbo missed the majority of Saturday’s game against Central Michigan after injuring his wrist in the second quarter.

After chasing running back Robbie Mixon to the sideline, Falbo remained on the turf. Falbo was up minutes later holding his wrist. The diagnosis was a dislocated wrist.

Falbo was named preseason first-team All-MAC by Football News and had three sacks and 30 tackles this season before suffering the injury.

Homecoming facts

Saturday’s win over Central Michigan marked the 96th Homecoming game in NIU history.

The Huskies own a 58-28-10 record in Homecoming games, including a 23-12-2 ledger at Huskie Stadium.

The first 11 Homecoming games were played against NIU (then called the Northern Illinois State Normal School) alumni before the first regional battle took place against Wheaton College in 1914.

The Huskies have played 35 different schools for Homecoming, ranging from Illinois Wesleyan to Fresno State.

Homecoming tradition ranks as the oldest in the state and trails only Michigan for the oldest in the Midwest.

NIU’s 1903 inaugural Homecoming was six years after Michigan’s in 1897.

Time Changes

In order to accommodate a national TV audience, the NIU-Bowling Green football game on Nov. 9 will be moved to 1:35 p.m.

The game was moved as part of the MAC’s Game of the Week selection.

The undefeated Falcons are ranked 22 in the USA Today/ESPN poll, and 24 in the AP poll after Saturday’s 48-45 win over Western Michigan.

Bowling Green’s national ranking last week marked the first time the Ohio school has been ranked since December 1985.

The game will be seen live on FOX Sports Net Ohio, FOX Sports Net Detroit, FOX Sports Net Pittsburgh, Empire Sports Network and Sunshine Network.

FOX Sports Net Chicago will air the game on tape delay at a later time that has yet to be determined.

NIU football also will see a time change for its Nov. 23 contest against Toledo. Game time has been moved to 11:35 a.m. as part of the Big Weekend.

The men’s basketball team will play DePaul at 5:35 p.m. at the Convocation Center.

Blowouts

The Mid-American Conference, long regarded as an evenly matched conference, where there are no easy games, may have lost that stereotype this season. Of the six MAC games on Saturday, four of the games were decided by 25 points or more. Ohio shut out Kent State 50-0 on the road. The conference also has four undefeated teams in conference play, and three teams that are winless in the MAC.