Things haven’t gone exactly as planned for NIU and Central Michigan this season.

After winning the MAC Championship last year, the Chippewas are 1-3 and coming off a 44-14 home loss to North Dakota State. Despite the loss to the Division 1-AA team, CMU is 1-0 where it counts: the MAC.

On the other hand, NIU (1-3, 0-1) looks to gain its first MAC victory of the season and extend its winning streak to 10 games over CMU when they travel to Mount Pleasant, Mich., on Saturday for an 11 a.m. kickoff.

“If we are going to stay in the league race, we should win this game,” head coach Joe Novak said. “And if we don’t, we will not be in the race anymore, to be realistic.”

Awaiting the Huskies is a flawed Chippewa defense that has given up 43 points and 509 yards of total offense per game. However, even those enticing numbers don’t have NIU quarterback Dan Nicholson ready to jump the gun.

“We’re not looking at their defense like that,” Nicholson said. “We are looking at it like they are the defending MAC champs and we have a chance to go out there and make a statement.”

A key to the Huskies’ success last week against Idaho was running back Justin Anderson’s ability to wear down the defensive line. Anderson looks to do more of the same this week, but Novak is wary of giving him more than 30 carries again.

“I worry about Justin doing too much,” Novak said. “We get in these close games and just worry about putting someone else in there, and we’ve got to get over that.”

The biggest threat CMU brings is quarterback Dan LeFevour. The sophomore from Downers Grove already ranks seventh on the CMU career touchdown passes list and was the MAC Freshman of the Year last season.

“The thing that he does that scares you is that he not only can throw the ball well, but he will run it well on you, also,” Novak said. “I thought he’s the reason they won the MAC Championship last year.”

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