Local Sports

Wildcats football plays at Tech for Miner’s Cup

MARQUETTE -- If there ever was a single game to get the Northern Michigan University football team into the win column this season, it's the one taking place at noon Saturday in Houghton.

The Wildcats will be playing for the Miner's Cup against Michigan Tech at the Huskies' Kearly Stadium in front of numerous Upper Peninsula fans in attendance, a radio audience on station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point, and a WLUC-TV6 television audience.

Fans can also follow @NMU_Football on Instagram and X for updates leading up to and during the game, or visit the Northern athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and look under the football schedule for links to live video, live audio, live statistics and a preview.

While NMU will be a decided underdog against the No. 14 team in NCAA Division II, it's also one of those rivalry games where pundits like to say, "Throw the records out."

Good news for Northern, which enters at 0-6 overall and 0-2 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference compared to MTU's 5-1 and 2-0.

Not only is it the U.P.'s only college football rivalry, but Tech has dominated the Miner's Cup game for quite awhile, winning the last 15 in a row. The Wildcats' most recent victory came in Houghton in 2009, a decisive 48-16 triumph. The teams didn't play in the 2020 coronavirus-related canceled season.

Since then, there's been multiple close calls, with the Huskies winning 21-18 in 2011, 34-31 in 2014, 24-23 in 2015, 51-45 in double overtime in 2016, 35-33 in 2018 and 24-20 in 2019.

But the last four years haven't been as kind, with Tech winning by at least two touchdowns each time, the most lopsided a 62-0 victory in 2023 in the Superior Dome in Marquette.

While the Miner's Cup has been around since 1920, the trophy for the competition between the two schools didn't originate until 2002. MTU leads 20-3, and last year, the Huskies prevailed 56-17 in the Superior Dome, even with NMU's Trevor Theuerkauf, a Menominee graduate, throwing for 75 yards and a touchdown and carrying the rock for another 106 yards on the ground.

Wildcats' All-American back Noah Dobert added 93 yards rushing that day.

"It's exciting for me to go through this rivalry for the first time," first-year Northern head coach Matt Janus said in an NMU Sports Information news release previewing the game. "There's a tremendous amount of pride on both sides, and I think it is what makes the rivalry so special."

Northern hasn't scored over its last two games, both against nationally ranked opposition. No. 1 Ferris State handed the Wildcats a 42-0 setback at home, while No. 11 Davenport came up with a 30-0 victory in suburban Grand Rapids last Saturday.

DU built a 23-0 halftime lead last week, though NMU freshman quarterback Matt Stevens saw his first collegiate action on the final drive, marching his Wildcats from their own 25-yard-line to the Davenport 1 before time ran out. Stevens completed 2 of 3 passes for 33 yards.

But the Panthers put their stamp on the game in the first half, outgaining Northern 342-61 in yardage. DU's Cephus Harris continues to be one of the nation's top running backs, as he finished with three rushing TDs and 225 yards on the ground to go over the 1,200-yard barrier six games into this season.

Dobert was no slouch, gaining 147 yards himself as his season total reached 663 yards, with averages of 110.5 yards per game and 4.9 yards per carry.

Tech is coming off an exciting 41-35 overtime victory over what was then No. 6 Grand Valley State in Houghton. The Huskies' only loss was 34-20 at No. 24 Emporia State (Kansas) on Sept. 12.

Alex Bueno, who took over as QB a week earlier in a 57-28 victory at Roosevelt, completed 11 of 18 passes for 134 yards and two TDs vs. GVSU, also rushing for 55 yards and another score. Fellow QB Elliott Larner was only 2 of 3 for 5 yards, but ran in two more TDs while gaining 44 more yards on the ground.

MTU clinched the victory by stopping the Lakers in their possession of OT.

Story contents based on a

Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release previewing the game. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee's email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.