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The time may be ripe: Wildcats finally face unranked team in Roosevelt today

Wildcats finally face unranked team in Roosevelt today

MARQUETTE -- After playing nationally ranked teams in each of its last four games, the time may be ripe for the Northern Michigan football team to earn its inaugural victory under first-year head coach Matt Janus.

The Wildcats host newest league member Roosevelt at 1 p.m. today in the Superior Dome.

But the Lakers -- one of three schools with that nickname in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference -- aren't the pushover they used to be.

For the past two seasons, Roosevelt had been battling with NMU to get out of the league basement, with the Lakers winning in overtime at the dome two years ago before Northern pulled off the triumph in Chicago during the middle of last season, 42-21, that ended its 28-game losing streak.

That victory was the first of a pair of 243-yard rushing games by future All-American back Noah Dobert.

Now, though, while Roosevelt is only 1-2 in the conference, the Lakers are also 5-2 overall. Their losses have come to a pair of nationally ranked GLIAC squads, No. 12 Michigan Tech and No. 9 Davenport, rankings coming from this week's American Football Coaches Association poll.

Northern has played those nationally ranked teams three times in its last four games.

To compare, Roosevelt lost 57-28 to MTU while the Wildcats lost 56-33 to the Huskies.

The Lakers also fell 59-21 to Davenport, while NMU has played DU twice in the past month, falling 42-7 nonconference and 30-0 in the league.

Today's game is available to watch online at FloCollege or can be heard on radio station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point. Fans can also follow the action @NMU_Football on Instagram and X for updates, or visit the Northern athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and look under the football schedule for links to ticket information, live video, live audio, live statistics and a preview.

The Wildcats are coming off their setback to Michigan Tech in Houghton last Saturday to fall to 0-7 overall and 0-3 in the GLIAC.

Despite that, freshman Matt Stevens made his first start at quarterback and led his charges to season highs in points and yardage.

Stevens himself completed 25 of 38 passes for 319 yards and a touchdown, the yardage 30% of the team's passing total this season.

He also ran for another 68 yards and added a rushing TD, while Dobert led the NMU running attack with 110 yards and two more TDs. In addition, teammate Noah Hofmann contributed another 55 rushing yards and yet another score on the ground.

The team totaled 553 yards in offense, its most since 2022, including a season-high 234 rushing yards and actually outgained Tech by 61 yards.

"There were some really impressive things (Stevens) did, escaping out of the pocket and extending plays with his feet," Janus said in an NMU Sports Information news release previewing today's game. "What excites me probably the most was the maturity and his progressions, which is high-level for a young guy.

"We feel like we have some momentum, and obviously he's going to take that into the Roosevelt game. It's a new week, so it's going to present some different challenges and the way they play defense."

Wilson Ptacek and Menominee product Trevor Theuerkauf led Northern receivers each with seven catches last Saturday as Ptacek led the way with 82 receiving yards and a TD, while Theuerkauf had 76 yards catching the ball.

For the season, the pair combine for almost exactly half of Northern's receptions -- out of 109 catches, Theuerkauf has 28 and Ptacek 26 for 54 together -- while they're also 1-2 in receiving yards with Ptacek leading the way by nearly a hundred yards.

What Tech was able to do was capitalize on several explosive plays to build a 35-12 halftime lead, including a 64-yard TD pass and an end-of-the-half TD reception that ended with a lateral.

Stevens opened with a 45-yard deep pass to set up NMU's initial TD, a Dobert 4-yard run, then combined quick passes with his scrambling ability.

Stevens comes from the Green Bay, Wisconsin, area and starred at Bay Port High School, winning a Wisconsin Division 1 state title in 2024 and runner-up finish in '25. He had 50 TD passes and 4,335 passing yards, each a school record. He also ran for more than 1,000 yards and 13 TDs last season, throwing for more than 2,000 yards and 23 more scores.

He can complement already decorated college veterans like Dobert and linebacker Jax Hertel, each named to the D2Football.com Elite 100 watch list in Division II before the season began. Each also earned GLIAC First Team honors last season.

Roosevelt is surprising many league observers after the Lakers were actually picked seventh in the coaches preseason poll, one position behind the Wildcats. Now, this Chicago-area school has wins over Quincy and Wayne State, and maybe the most impressive, 44-28 to open the season over Division I FCS member Chicago State.

Looking at team stats for all games, Roosevelt is No. 4 in scoring at 36.7 points per game and No. 6 with 36.6 points given up on average.

Northern is No. 7 in scoring offense, 11.4 a game, and also No. 7 in points allowed, 43.1 a contest.

Roosevelt is also No. 4 in yardage at 432.4 per game, including No. 1 in passing with 275.3 yards per game, led by QB Toy Chahino with a 140.6 efficiency rating, No. 3 in the GLIAC.

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