Lockstep with the past: Wildcats football unsurprisingly picked 6th in GLIAC
Wildcats football unsurprisingly picked 6th in GLIAC
Northern Michigan University's Noah Dobert reacts after a play during a 2025 Wildcats' football game. (Photo courtesy NMU)
Northern Michigan University quarterback Austin Ridl, center, fakes handing the ball off to running back Noah Dobert, left, but would actually pitch it to another back during a GLIAC game played against Michigan Tech at the Superior Dome in Marquette on Oct. 25. Ridl is a Marquette Senior High School graduate, while Dobert would go on to set the NMU record for rushing yards in a season with 1,656. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
Northern Michigan University head coach Matt Janus, left, demonstrates a drill with a player during the Wildcats’ football open spring practice held at the Superior Dome in Marquette on April 11. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
Northern Michigan University's Noah Dobert reacts after a play during a 2025 Wildcats' football game. (Photo courtesy NMU)
Northern Michigan University quarterback Austin Ridl, center, fakes handing the ball off to running back Noah Dobert, left, but would actually pitch it to another back during a GLIAC game played against Michigan Tech at the Superior Dome in Marquette on Oct. 25. Ridl is a Marquette Senior High School graduate, while Dobert would go on to set the NMU record for rushing yards in a season with 1,656. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
Northern Michigan University head coach Matt Janus, left, demonstrates a drill with a player during the Wildcats’ football open spring practice held at the Superior Dome in Marquette on April 11. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
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MARQUETTE -- With the exception of one school, the football coaches in Northern Michigan University's conference had pretty much no imagination when it came to predicting the finishing order this fall in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
That included their prediction for the Wildcats, who were picked for sixth place, right where they finished last year with 3-8 overall and 2-5 conference records.
But that's OK, since these guys were chosen to manage a hundred and often more players in the college setting of a violent sport. Being a soothsayer generally won't help a coach stay in his job.
However, they might've forgotten that NMU overcame an 0-6 start last fall that was at the tail end of a 28-game winless streak. Northern won three of its final five games, at least a significant part of it on the back of 5-foot-11, 197-pound redshirt freshman running back Noah Dobert.
Not only did the now-sophomore set a program record with 1,656 yards on the ground, but he gained more than half of those yards -- 892 to be exact -- in just the three Wildcats' victories, capped off by his near all-time NCAA Division II total of 406 yards at home vs. Wayne State in the season finale on Nov. 15.
Rewarded as the GLIAC Back of the Year while receiving an All-American nod, Dobert will be back for his second full season in the Superior Dome. He'll now be led by new head coach Matt Janus, hired away from a wildly successful program at Division III Wisconsin-La Crosse.
The season kicks off in less than a month, on Thursday, Aug. 27, at Minnesota State-Moorhead, with the home opener nine days later at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 5, vs. Tiffin.
Season tickets for the 2026 Wildcats' season are on sale at the NMU Tickets website at nmu.universitytickets.com/ or in person at the Superior Dome ticket office.
Almost every other position in the coaches' GLIAC predictions matches last year's finish. The one exception is Saginaw Valley State, which surprised many by tying for second place in the league last fall at 5-2, despite a so-so 6-5 overall mark.
This fall, though, the Cardinals dipped to fifth place in the coaches' minds, actually just one spot ahead of the Wildcats.
Defending national champion Ferris State was in real terms a unanimous No. 1 pick to repeat, getting seven of the eight first-place votes. Coaches weren't allowed to vote for their team, so Ferris' vote went to everyone else's runner-up pick, Grand Valley State.
The Lakers, who tied SVSU for second in 2025 at 5-2, were chosen second, with Michigan Tech third and Davenport fourth.
Last fall, the Huskies and Panthers tied for fourth at 4-3, with Tech head man and Gwinn native Dan Mettlach chosen as GLIAC Coach of the Year.
Following NMU was Roosevelt in seventh and Wayne State in eighth, just one vote apart as they finished that way last fall, too.
Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the poll. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee's email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.