NMU football faces big test at No. 23 Grand Valley
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MARQUETTE -- With back-to-back wins under its belt, the Northern Michigan University football team is ready to take on one of its biggest tests this season on Saturday afternoon.
The Wildcats travel to downstate Allendale to take on national No. 23 Grand Valley State at 1 p.m. that day.
The game can be watched online at FloCollege or heard on radio station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point.
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.
Though these teams are tied in the standings at 2-3 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, they're far apart in their overall success.
While NMU is a modest 2-7 after consecutive league victories over Roosevelt and Wayne State, Grand Valley has its national ranking and an overall 6-3 record after also disposing of Wayne State and Roosevelt, outscoring those foes by a combined 114-25, along with nonconference opponents Ashland, West Texas A&M, Charleston and Judson, the last team by an eye-popping 96-0 in mid-September.
Like Northern, the Lakers have lost to Michigan Tech and Ferris State, while also falling to Saginaw Valley State, who the Wildcats have on deck to end the season next week.
"We are going to an environment that tries to overwhelm visitors," Wildcats first-year head coach Matt Janus said in the NMU Sports Information news release previewing the game. "We are focused on what we need to do on our execution vs. a really talented offense and a really talented defense."
Northern certainly built some confidence with its 45-12 victory at winless Wayne State on Saturday. A year after NMU running back Noah Dobert almost set an NCAA Division II all-time rushing record vs. the Warriors, last week Wildcats freshman quarterback Matt Stevens came within one completion of tying an all-time D-II mark in the passing department.
He completed his first 20 passes, setting an NMU record and missing the all-time Division II record by just one of 21 consecutive -- that's for any point within a single game -- that is held by Jonn McLain of Chadron State (Nebraska) in October 2012.
Stevens finished an astounding 26 of 27 (96.3% completion rate) for 405 yards and three touchdowns. His 405 yards was one less yard than Dobert's rushing total in 2025 that missed that all-time record by 19 yards.
Adding in mop-up duty by Duke Shovald and Liam Oczkowski in the fourth quarter, NMU QBs were 30 of 31 for 455 yards.
Wilson Ptacek was the No. 1 receiving target with seven catches for 169 yards, including a 65-yarder in the first quarter.
And it wasn't like Dobert didn't show up. He had a solid 125 yards in 15 carries and three more TDs all to himself.
All told, the NMU offense piled up 602 yards to just 167 for the Warriors.
Despite fumbling the ball five times, Northern didn't have a turnover; the game's only giveaway was when Wildcats defensive back Murphy Monreal made an interception in the middle of the third quarter.
Additionally, NMU lineman Nathan Pralle, a transfer from Wisconsin Lutheran last offseason, was named GLIAC Defensive Player of the Week for his team highs of six tackles, two QB sacks and three total tackles for loss.
For the season, Dobert has 1,045 rushing yards in nine games, placing him No. 2 in the GLIAC, with his 116.1 yards per game the same ranking.
He's just over 600 yards behind his 2025 total of an NMU-record 1,656 yards that included the 406-yard effort and a pair of 243-yarders, all three coming in the Wildcats' trio of wins last season.
Linebacker Jax Hertel, like Dobert a GLIAC First Team pick a year ago, is sixth in the league with 31 solo tackles and 10th with 55 total. He had a team-high 101 tackles in 2025, ranking him No. 3 in the GLIAC that year.
Stevens, who doesn't have any previous conference awards as a true freshman, has completed 74 of 99 passes (74.6%) for 1,016 yards, six TDs and no interceptions.
In league games only -- which is all he's played -- he leads the GLIAC with 253.8 passing yards per game.
Looking at Grand Valley, which was picked second in the coaches' preseason GLIAC poll, the Lakers ended a three-game losing streak with a 45-22 win at Roosevelt last Saturday. Zak Olejniczak led GVSU with 128 rushing yards and two TDs.
QB Andrew Schuster led the Lakers to a 4-0 nonconference start, throwing for 1,031 yards and 14 TDs just in that span. He had another four TD tosses in a GLIAC-opening 69-3 win over Wayne State.
But starting with 41-35 overtime loss at MTU on Oct. 10, the tide turned on the Lakers. They lost a tight 41-34 decision to national No. 1 Ferris after jumping out to a 17-0 lead, then fell at Saginaw Valley State 27-20 despite Schuster throwing for 343 yards.
Nevertheless, Schuster is the league's No. 1 passer with 2,133 yards through the air and 27 TDs that way. Kellen Reed, who had receptions for 177 yards and five TDs vs. Wayne State, has rolled up 1,172 receiving yards and 19 TDs, each by far the highest in the GLIAC.
Kellen Russell-Dixon is the league's No. 5 rusher with 586 yards and four TDs.
In their history, Grand Valley leads the series with NMU 29-17-1, including taking 21 of the past 22 since 2001. In that stretch, Northern's lone win was in 2012 when a 244-yard rushing attack spurred a 38-10 upset of the Lakers.
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Northern Michigan University's Noah Dobert, right, looks for daylight in the mass of players in front of him during a GLIAC game played against Ferris State at the Superior Dome in Marquette on Oct. 3. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)