His team minutes removed from a 6-3 loss to San Diego State on Saturday , NIU coach Thomas Hammock posed a rhetorical question toward the end of his press conference.

“We have 18 new starters and seven new coaches,” Hammock said. “What are the realistic expectations?”

The glib answer, of course, is to have scored more than three offensive touchdowns in four games this year.

But it’s an interesting question that deserves more than a glib answer. Plus, it would be a repetitive topic at this point.

With a defense as good as the Huskies have been, a conference title should be a realistic expectation. With an offense as bad as the Huskies have been, a three or four-win season would hypothetically seem reasonable.

What are realistic expectations for the Huskies? There’s really no simple

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