The last time I checked, the Castle Drive entrance said “Northern Illinois University” — not “Cupcake U.”

Where’s Cupcake U. located, you ask? Well, it actually doesn’t exit.
But during the two years I’ve covered Huskie football, NIU coach Joe Novak has made reference to the fake university.

For example, after NIU accepted an invitation to the Poinsettia Bowl, Novak criticized programs that stuff their schedule with these delicious treats.

“You can play four cupcakes, win two games in your league, and go two and six and then say you’re a bowl team,” the head coach said last December. “To me, that’s not being a bowl team.”

Simply put, a cupcake is a team that is easily defeated.

Programs like Iowa, Wisconsin, and Navy might see the Huskies as a six-year-old sees a cookie. The Huskies are Cupcake U.

The recent sweetener added to the batter that is NIU football: a loss to Temple.
The victory was only the fourth for the Owls in their last 40 games. That’s a winning percentage of .100.

A 16-15 collapse last weekend has sunk NIU to the bottom of college football. The Huskies own the only 0-3 record in conference. Then, there’s the fact that NIU’s competition hasn’t been the strongest this season.

In total, NIU’s competitors have a combined record of 15-21 in 2007. If you remove Southern Illinois from the equation, the record drops to 9-21.

Plus, the Huskies’ only victory this year is against Idaho – another Cupcake U. with an overall record of 1-5.

But what makes NIU truly a football sweet is that most of these losses could have been avoided if it played sound football.

Fumbles and interceptions have plagued the Huskies. NIU ranks No. 115 out of 119 teams in the nation in turnover margin.

Mental mistakes and penalties have stopped key drives, such as the final drive against Eastern Michigan. They’ve also helped opponents’ offenses, such as the personal fouls committed at Central Michigan.

Oddities such as Chris Nendick missing two extra points against Temple have epitomized NIU beating itself. Nendick entered last Saturday’s game making 148-150 extra points.

We knew coming into the season that Novak hated playing the cupcakes of college football.

“When you play against Cupcake U., you don’t know what you have at the end of the game,” he said before playing Ohio State in 2006.

It’s sad to think NIU has spent its week preparing as the Huskies, only to show up as Cupcake U. this Saturday.

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