09-15-2007, 10:07 AM
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/colleges/...5.article#
Quote:Winless Huskies still undefeated in MAC
NIU | Novak knows conference play all that really matters
September 15, 2007
BY RICK ARMSTRONG Beacon News
DEKALB, Ill. -- Been here, done this.
Northern Illinois coach Joe Novak didn't want to start the 2007 season 0-2, but he knows it could be worse as he prepares the Huskies for their Mid-American Conference opener today vs. Eastern Michigan (0-2).
''We lost two in a row [to start the season] the last two years and ended up in postseason play,'' said Novak, noting that the Huskies reached the MAC title game in 2005 and the Poinsettia Bowl last season.
''Obviously, that's not the way you want to start. Compared to last year [when the second loss was a conference game], we are sitting just fine. We are 0-0 in the MAC, so I do not think we are in too bad a shape.''
The MAC landscape has changed for 2007, with the addition of Temple giving the East Division seven teams to the West's six. Because of an unbalanced schedule, only the Huskies' five MAC West games will count in determining the division title. Two crossover games with the East would factor only in a tiebreaker.
''I don't feel we're in panic [mode],'' sophomore guard Jason Onyebuagu said. ''This is a conference game and all conference games are 'must' wins, so that's how we're looking at it.''
''It really forces you to zero in on those five,'' Novak said.
The other numbers the Huskies are focusing on this week are 8-to-1. They don't involve odds; it's the team's turnover ratio.
NIU has given up the ball six times by interception and twice by fumble while recovering only one fumble. Only once in the last five seasons have the Huskies had more turnovers than takeaways, and that was in 2005, when the ratio was 22-21.
''One thing we try to avoid is beating ourselves,'' Novak said. ''We made good improvement from Week 1 to Week 2, but you can't turn the ball over five times and expect the results you are looking for.
''If we can just [avoid making turnovers] and maybe get a few, we can get this thing turned around.''
Eastern Michigan, which has lost six straight to NIU, fell 27-3 to Pittsburgh and 38-16 to Ball State. The Eagles' offense has produced only one touchdown; the other came on a kickoff return.
''It's a different matchup every year,'' fourth-year coach Jeff Genyk said. ''What they do is make you earn a victory. We've had our opportunities. The last two years, we haven't done anything in the red zone against them.''
Sophomore John Tranchitella will move from weak-side linebacker to the middle in place of Tim McCarthy (knee), who might be out for the season. Novak also has to replace leading rusher Montell Clanton, out for the season with a knee injury for the second year in a row.
Sun-Times News Group