From left, Northern Michigan University’s Trevor Leigh, Mariano Valenti and Kyle Sahr celebrate Valenti’s touchdown he ran in to get the Wildcats on the scoreboard during a football game played against Lake Erie College on Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023, at the Superior Dome in Marquette. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

By Journal Sports Staff

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University football program cast its net wide looking for opponents outside the GLIAC and came up with a schedule featuring teams from five conferences and five states this fall.

In what is becoming a tradition, the Wildcats open with back-to-back Thursday evening games before settling in to an all-Saturday schedule for the remaining nine games.

NMU has five home games among the 11 contests, including the season opener against national power Minnesota-Duluth (9-2 last season) at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 29, in the Superior Dome in Marquette.

Northern had a rough season in 2023, the first under head coach and former NMU football player Shane Richardson, going 0-11 after several potential All-American defensive players took advantage of the transfer portal with the coaching change away from Kyle Nystrom.

The Duluth game is the first of four nonconference encounters before the Wildcats finish the year with seven consecutive GLIAC games.

The league is starting to expand again with the addition of Roosevelt University from the city of Chicago, which NMU hosts just past the halfway point of the season.

After the opener, NMU travels to Owensboro, Kentucky, to take on first-time opponent Kentucky Wesleyan at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 5.

Settling into the Saturday slate of contests — all those games with an announced time so far are in the afternoon — the Wildcats finish their nonconference schedule with a pair of NCAA Division III powerhouses that both won multiple games in their national tournament last fall.

First up is a game at Wisconsin-La Crosse near the Mississippi River in La Crosse, Wisconsin, at 2 p.m. EDT Sept. 14. The Eagles finished 11-2 last year, including a 34-3 win over NMU and two wins in the national tourney before La Crosse bowed out to traditional D-III power North Central in the quarterfinals.

Northern is 1-1 all-time against La Crosse, apparently the same all-time record Northern has against its next opponent, Alma College, with those previous games played against the Scots in 1955 and 1956.

Last season, Alma finished 12-1, playing in the NCAA Division III tournament and defeating D-III traditional powerhouse Mount Union before bowing out in the quarters.

The Alma home game at 1 p.m. Sept. 21 also serves as Homecoming and is the featured contest during the NMU Hall of Fame weekend.

Following an off weekend on Sept. 28, the Wildcats go into their conference sprint of seven straight GLIAC games before the season ends in mid-November.

First up is a home game against Saginaw Valley State at 1 p.m. Oct. 5. The Cardinals finished dead center in the middle of the league at 3-3 last year, 6-5 overall.

Then comes one of the two toughest matchups, maybe the toughest as a road game against Grand Valley State on Oct. 12.

After GVSU upset national No. 1 Ferris State during the regular season, the Lakers went on to win the GLIAC at 6-0, compile an 11-2 overall record and pull off another win over FSU in its NCAA Division II tournament opener.

Grand Valley would post one more tourney win before losing a heartbreaking 7-6 decision to eventual national champion Harding in the quarterfinals.

On Oct. 19 will be the Wildcats’ 1 p.m. matchup against the new conference member, Roosevelt. The Lakers — who join Grand Valley and Lake Superior State with that nickname — are making the jump up from the NAIA as they had a 6-4 record last season.

Then on Oct. 26 is the annual Upper Peninsula rivalry game against Michigan Tech, this year to be played in Houghton at a time yet to be determined. The Huskies struggled to 1-5 conference and 5-5 overall marks last fall, their only conference win their 13th straight victory over NMU in the annual Miners Cup game.

Entering November, Northern hosts Ferris State at 1 p.m. on Nov. 2 for Senior Day as the Bulldogs were runners-up in the GLIAC last fall at 5-1, along with 8-3 overall.

The Wildcats finish the season with back-to-back road games, playing in Grand Rapids against Davenport on Nov. 9 and in Detroit against Wayne State on Nov. 16.

DU was a solid 4-2 in the GLIAC last season, 8-2 overall, while WSU went 2-4 and 3-8.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.