MARQUETTE, Mich. – After dropping a road contest against No. 23 Grand Valley State, 61-14, the Northern Michigan football team returns to the Superior Dome looking to secure its third GLIAC win of the season and match last year's conference win total. The Wildcats will host the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals at 1 p.m. on Saturday, November 14.

NMU will honor its senior class before the game.

Saturday's game can be watched on FloCollege or heard on 100.3 The Point, with Austin Graham on the call.


Follow The Action
Follow @NMU_Football on Instagram and X for updates leading up to and during the game.


A Word from Coach Janus
"This senior group has shown their love for Northern Michigan and for our football program and for the UP. It's a group that has been so pivotal in building this program the way that we want to build it. I certainly hope down the road in two or three years that this group can look back and be really proud of being that first group and they were like the guinea pigs under Coach Janus and helped us as a program to build piece by piece and block by block, and that they will be really proud in a couple years of what they've accomplished here and the program we've been able to build."



Last Time Out
The Wildcats dropped their last game, 61-14, against the GVSU Lakers. NMU opened the game with a three-and-out before putting together an 81-yard touchdown drive to take a 7-0 lead. From there, the Lakers scored 47 unanswered points to take control of the contest. Noah Dobert rushed for 168 yards and a touchdown while also throwing a touchdown pass to Lachlin Acker. GVSU's Andrew Schuster threw for five touchdowns, including three to Kellen Reed, while Zak Olejniczak added two rushing touchdowns.

The Lakers held a 522-243 advantage in total yards. The Wildcats fumbled three times, while the Lakers' defense recorded five sacks, all in the first half. Defensively, Tyler Carnell led all players with a career-high 10 tackles. NMU struggled to win the battle at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, as the Lakers' defense consistently pressured Matt Stevens. Wilson Ptacek led the Wildcats with 59 receiving yards.


Leading the Way
Linebacker Jax Hertel and running back Noah Dobert were both named to the D2Football.com Elite 100 watchlist this season. Both earned First-Team All-GLIAC honors last season, while Dobert set NMU rushing records and was named a D2CCA Second-Team All-American.

Dobert, a sophomore from Dearborn, Michigan, has rushed for 1,213 yards in 10 games, ranking second in the GLIAC. His 121.3 rushing yards per game also rank second in the conference.
Dobert put together one of the best rushing seasons in program history in 2025, finishing with 1,656 yards and 15 touchdowns. Both totals established new NMU single-season records, while his 150.5 rushing yards per game ranked third nationally. He also averaged 6.3 yards per carry and finished among the national leaders in total rushing yards. His record-setting season included a 406-yard, four-touchdown performance against Wayne State, establishing a new NMU single-game rushing record. He was named D2Football.com National Offensive Player of the Week following the performance and earned GLIAC Offensive Back of the Year and D2CCA All-Super Region 3 First-Team honors.

Hertel, a senior from Walworth, Wisconsin, ranks seventh in the GLIAC with 34 solo tackles and ninth with 61 total tackles. He returns after leading the Wildcats with 101 tackles in 2025, which ranked third in the conference. His 14.5 tackles for loss led the GLIAC, and he also recorded three quarterback hits, six pass breakups, a forced fumble, and a pick-six. Hertel started all 11 games and earned D2CCA All-Super Region 3 First-Team honors after anchoring the Northern Michigan defense throughout the season.

Despite a difficult outing against GVSU, Matt Stevens has thrown for 1,101 yards and six touchdowns this season since taking over as the starting quarterback against Michigan Tech. Stevens has reinvigorated an offense that struggled early in the season and has performed well as a true freshman against some of the GLIAC's top competition.


A Look at SVSU
SVSU was picked to finish fifth in the GLIAC 2026 preseason poll and received 28 votes, just behind Davenport's 31. So far this season, SVSU is 5-5 with a 3-3 GLIAC record entering the final weekend of regular-season play. The Cardinals have been a streaky team, opening the season with dominant wins over McKendree and Texas A&M-Kingsville before dropping four straight, including a heartbreaking 35-28 loss to rival Northwood and a 55-0 defeat against No. 1 Ferris State. Quarterback Connor Wolf led the offense during that stretch, throwing for over 300 yards in multiple contests. However, the Cardinals struggled to establish the run, finishing with under 100 rushing yards in three of those four losses.

Since then, the Cardinals have won three of their last four games, beginning with a dominant 49-3 victory over Wayne State. SVSU followed that performance with a 27-20 upset of rival GVSU in the Battle of the Valleys, using a strong rushing attack and three interceptions to secure the win. After a narrow 27-20 loss to Michigan Tech, the Cardinals bounced back last week with a 44-30 road victory over Roosevelt. Wolf threw for nearly 300 yards and four touchdowns, while Sanni Obie rushed for 131 yards and a score. Matt Vaughn also had a huge performance through the air, finishing with 213 receiving yards and three touchdowns.

The Cardinals will look to continue their strong passing offense against the Wildcats, who have had mixed results defending the pass this season. The Wildcats will look to shut down the run and force the Cardinals into obvious passing situations to create turnovers.


Series History
NMU has lost nine straight games in the series, with its last win coming in 2015 (36-34). In that game, quarterback Shaye Brown's three touchdowns made the difference for the Wildcats.

In their last matchup in 2025, the Wildcats fell 47-25 despite rushing for 279 yards. Though NMU outscored SVSU 22-14 in the second half, a 26-point second quarter from the Cardinals proved too much to overcome. NMU found the end zone three times, while SVSU scored six touchdowns. Dobert rushed for 102 yards on 15 carries, while the Cardinals balanced their attack with 222 rushing yards and 276 through the air. Each team recovered two fumbles, while the Cardinals also forced a pair of interceptions.

NMU was last within one score in the series in 2017 and will look to turn the tide after a pair of strong wins against Roosevelt and Wayne State last month.