The NIU football team has come a long way since 1998.

This weekend will prove exactly how far it has come since the Huskies’ 23-game losing streak. The same could have been said about the Toledo game last week, but Marshall is the team everyone wants to knock off.

Ever since Marshall walked into the Mid-American Conference in 1997, it has waltzed over the competition with ease. The Herd has won the last four MAC Championships and the last three Motor City Bowl’s.

While the Herd might not be as strong as the 1999 team that finished 13-0 and was ranked 10th in the Associated Press Top 25, it is still a force to be reckoned with.

According to collegefootballnews.com, this weekend’s game of Marshall and NIU is the fifth best game of the weekend.

And if one of the biggest games of the week isn’t enough, consider the fact that it is the 11th anniversary of NIU’s last win over a Top 25 team. On Oct. 6, 1990, the Huskies crushed then No. 24 Fresno State 73-18. Even though Marshall isn’t a ranked team, can history repeat itself?

Of course it can.

This whole season the Huskies have been talking about pulling out a win against a top team. They have been getting closer and closer. NIU barely lost to Illinois, 17-12.

Even though the score might not look close, 41-20, the Huskies were able to pull within seven points in the third quarter — 27-20 — and had the chance to leave Toledo with the win.

After the Toledo game last week, junior tailback Thomas Hammock said that he doesn’t know when a win against a big name team will come, but it should come soon. He does know, however, that the Huskies have to come play with the mind-frame that they can win these types of games and not just try to compete with a team.

This is the weekend.

If the Huskies want to make a name for themselves, they have to beat Marshall. It has been done before, and it can be done again this Saturday.

The Huskies are on the brink of knocking off one of these teams. A win like this will make their season. A loss could kill it.

If the Huskies defeat the Herd Saturday, it will show how far they have come since their 23-game losing streak back in 1997 and 1998.

No longer are the days of being the laughing stock of the MAC. The Huskies will be looked at as one of the upper echelon teams of the MAC, something coach Joe Novak has been looking for since he became coach at NIU.

Respect finally will be earned on Saturday.