Two losses have put NIU in a tight spot. Now they have to make sure they can field two tight ends.

NIU looks to overcome last week’s defeat to Southern Illinois and start out perfect in the MAC as they host Eastern Michigan this Saturday at 11 a.m.

If dealing with potential season-ending injuries to starting running back Montell Clanton and middle linebacker Tim McCarthy wasn’t enough, the Huskies will be without tight end Reed Cunningham on Saturday.

Fellow tight ends Brandon Davis and David Koronkiewicz are also day-to-day but will be available to play.

“The best way to explain what’s going on at the position is we’ve got a bunch of guys there and who may or may not play is determined from play-to-play,” said tight end coach Greg Bower.

“Bryan Beckner and Brandon Beal played most snaps last week but it all depends on how things are going during the course of the game.”

“We are primarily a two tight end run team and we do some things out of the passing game with them,” Bower said.

“With that we use multiple groupings of them and it’s just like any other position: The more you have, the more flexibility it provides.”

An 0-2 start is nothing new for the NIU football team.

The last two years, the Huskies started out with the same record and ended up going to the MAC Championship game and Poinsettia Bowl game, respectively.

But unlike the past two years, the Huskies have to respond from a heartbreaking loss to a Division 1-AA team.

“They’re mad and they should be,” head coach Joe Novak said about the state of his team. “We invoked the 24-hour rule. Twenty-four hours after the game, you put it behind you and move on.”

New middle linebacker John Tranchitella and Co. will be responsible for slowing down fleet-footed EMU quarterback Andy Schmitt, who was the Eagles’ second leading rusher a season ago.

“They run some spread stuff,” Novak said of the EMU offense. “They run a little option too. Schmitt’s a very capable runner as well as a pretty darn good passer.”

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