Garrett Wolfe Earns MAC's Vern Smith Leadership Award and Offensive Player of the Year Honors - Tailback is first Huskie since 1983 to earn Vern Smith Leadership Award

Northern Illinois tailback Garrett Wolfe was named by the Mid-American Conference Monday as its 2006 Vern Smith Leadership Award Recipient and as the Offensive Player of the Year.

"Obviously, this honor is very well deserved for Garrett," said head coach Joe Novak. "We're all very happy for him. He has had a great career for us, topped off with an outstanding senior year. "

The Daily Chronicle: BREAKING NEWS: Huskies accept invite to Poinsetta Bowl

Sources confirmed on Monday that the Northern Illinois football team has accepted an invitation to face TCU at the Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 19.

The official annoucement will come at 11 a.m. on Tuesday via press conference. The bowl berth is the Huskies' second in the last three years.

Sports Illustrated: Bowl Projections

By virtue of its win over Middle Tennessee, Troy will now capture the Sun Belt title (assuming it beats 0-11 Florida International on Saturday) and a berth in the New Orleans Bowl. NCAA rules state that a bowl can only offer an at-large berth to a 6-6 team if there are no other teams with winning records available. There are only going to be two at-large spots available, the Poinsettia and the Motor City, and one of those is now going to have to go to Middle Tennessee. The other will go to an extra team from the MAC, either Northern Illinois or Western Michigan, both of whom have winning records as well.

CBSSportsline.com: Bowl Predictions

Poinsettia Dec. 19 (MWC No. 2/3 vs. at-large):
TCU vs. Northern Illinois

ESPN.com: Bowl Projections

San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia (Mountain West vs. At-large):
Utah vs. Northern Illinois - Ivan Maisel
TCU vs. Northern Illinois - Mark Schlabach

The Fort Worth Star Telegram: Sources: Frogs to face NIU

Officials with the Poinsettia Bowl are expected today to select TCU for its Dec. 19 game in San Diego, and sources said that the Horned Frogs' opponent will be Northern Illinois.

MAC Report Online: Northern Illinois Headed to Poinsettia Bowl - Likely To Face Texas Christian in San Diego

As Saturday's games progressed, the remaining teams on the Poinsettia Bowl's radar lost as Kansas (6-6) fell to Missouri and Oklahoma State (6-6) lost to rival Oklahoma. Another possibility for a Poinsettia Bowl berth fell to the wayside when Boise State (12-0) throttled Nevada. A loss by Boise State would have freed up San Jose State (6-4) from the WAC for an at-large slot but with Boise State qualifying for a BCS bowl game, San Jose State will now claim one of the WAC's aligned bowl slots.