Joe Novak would love to see the stands filled this weekend.

The NIU football team faces Marshall this Saturday and Novak thinks this is the weekend Huskie Stadium should be filled to capacity and give the Huskies the advantage over the Thundering Herd with the 12th man.

“This is really important,” Novak said. “I would just love to look up and see some people out here. We are fun to watch. We are entertaining.”

In the two home games this season, the average paid attendance has been only 13,445. Last season, the Huskies averaged 15,757 paid attendants.

When the Huskies went down to Huntington, West Virginia in 1999, the paid attendance was 30,081. Novak said Marshall Stadium had a hostile feel to it, and he would like to see the Huskie fans return the favor.

“Going down to Huntington, it is one of the toughest places I have ever had to play at in my life,” Novak said. “They [the fans] are the 12th man, and I would like to see us return the favor.”

Novak said after the Huskies win over Sam Houston State he was disappointed when he looked up at the east side of the stadium and saw empty seats. While Novak hopes the fans do their jobs and come out to the game, he knows the Huskies have to do their job and win some games.

“Winning will do that,” Novak said about getting fans into the seats. “I will stand here and say we are partly responsible.”

But Novak thought after the Illinois game, the fans would have come out and filled Huskie Stadium.

“I just guess they are waiting for us to win,” he said. “We’ll work