Northern Michigan University head coach Shane Richardson, left, congratulates sophomore running back Vince Martin of Bark River for a good play during a game played against St. Thomas at the Superior Dome in Marquette last Saturday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — There should be some real excitement in the air today at the Superior Dome for Homecoming, and not just because it’s that special day at Northern Michigan University.

The Wildcats could be looking at getting that long-awaited first win for third-year head coach Shane Richardson.

NMU has lost 25 games in a row since he took over as head coach to start the 2023 season, but unlike past years, this Northern team has been consistently competitive each and every week, even when it hosted an NCAA Division I team in St. Thomas last Saturday.

Today’s game starts at 1 p.m. and will be against Davenport, the first conference game for both of these Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schools.

Fan can follow @NMU_Football and @NMU_Wildcats on X (formerly Twitter) for updates leading up to and during the game.

Fans can also listen to the game on radio station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point, or watch it online on FLO College.

“I have a theory that pretty much every game is affected by three to five plays, no matter what the score is,” Richardson said on Tuesday in an NMU Sports Information news release previewing the game. “You go back to Saturday, and that’s really what it was, until about 6:10 left.

“I thought things were really in our favor in a lot of ways, and then we kind of made some poor decisions.”

While the Wildcats are 0-3, they lost by seven points to open at home against Minnesota State-Moorhead (44-37 final score), fell by five points at Northwood a week later (23-18), and came up short by 13 points to St. Thomas of the Football Championship Division (20-7).

That last game, one that the Wildcats led 7-6 halfway through the fourth quarter, was the first time NMU has ever hosted a Division I team since the Superior Dome opened in 1991.

While today’s opponent Davenport probably won’t be contending for a national championship — something fellow league member Ferris State has won three of the past four seasons — the Panthers are no pushover, either.

DU is 1-1 with a 21-12 win at former GLIAC member Gannon on Aug. 30 and 28-27 overtime loss at Truman State last Saturday.

The Panthers mirror NMU on offense, using a running-first philosophy with twice as many rushing plays as passing.

Dual-threat quarterback D’Wan Mathis and running back Cephus Harris lead their attack, with Mathis throwing for 171 yards and running for 90 yards on average each of their two games. Harris accounts for an average of 150 all-purpose yards a contest and also has a team-high five touchdowns.

The Panthers’ defense gives up points more grudgingly than yards — DU is 76th nationally vs. the run, 118th vs. the pass but tied for 36th in scoring defense.

Northern has the 25th-ranked defense in NCAA Division II, expected today to help control the tempo and even create extra opportunities for NMU’s playmakers on offense.

That offense averages 54 rushing attempts per game, with backs Jahi Wood and Noah Dobert carrying the largest part of that load. Dobert averages 76 yards per game and Wood is the leading scorer with three TDs.

The NMU defense gives up just 2.5 yards per rushing attempt and is 108th nationally in pass defense despite 11 pass breakups and an interception.

In last week’s game, the Wildcats took their one-point lead in the latter stages of the third quarter when Wood scored on a 5-yard run and Michael Karlen kicked the extra point.

That held up until the Tommies scored twice in barely over three minutes down the stretch on TD passes by Andy Peters, his second and third scoring aerials of the day.

Northern captain Jax Hertel totaled a career-best 14 tackles to go with a pass breakup and three tackles for loss.

QB Duke Shovald has generally been the Wildcats’ throwing signal caller in contrast to Marquette Senior High School graduate Austin Ridl as more of a running quarterback. Shovald completed 11 of 19 passes for 133 yards last Saturday as the offense didn’t commit a turnover after making three of those bakery-fresh items the previous week.

Sebastian Boyea, Trevor Theuerkauf, a Menominee product, and Isaac Olson each totaled in the 40-50-yard range in receiving yards with three or four catches apiece.

Wood was the leading rusher with 49 yards as Dobert had 44 on the ground.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release previewing the game. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.