MARQUETTE, Mich. – The Northern Michigan Football team is ready to host its second home game of the season, taking on the Davenport Panthers in a non-conference Homecoming matchup. The game will take place at 1 p.m. on Saturday, September 19th at the Superior Dome.
Saturday's game against the Panthers can be watched on Flo Sports or listened to on 100.3 The Point, with Casey Ford on the call.
The Wildcats dropped their last game 56-14 at Division I FCS St. Thomas. Throughout the first quarter, NMU kept pace early, including an early touchdown, but the Tommies found the end zone three times in the second quarter to pull away.
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A Word from Coach Janus
"If you look at the structure of Davenport… they are winning games up front. That's a team where I can't say enough good things about what their lines are doing, and we have to prepare our guys in the trenches."
Last Time Out
Northern fell to the St. Thomas Tommies 56-14 last weekend.
The Wildcats trailed 15-7 after one, but a three-touchdown second quarter from the Tommies had them ahead 35-7 at the break. NMU scored the lone touchdown in the third, but St. Thomas closed the door with three more in the final quarter.
Wilson Ptacek scored both of Northern's touchdowns, hauling in three receptions for 60 yards. NMU totaled 333 yards of offense, led by
Noah Dobert with 27 carries for 142 yards.
Liam Oczkowski was 12-of-18 for 134 yards and a touchdown, while
Duke Shovald also had a connection with Ptacek for a score.
The Wildcats turned the ball over four times, three of them being fumbles.
Jax Hertel recorded an interception on the defensive end, accounting for UST's lone turnover.
UST's Nicholas Peipert threw for 270 yards and two touchdowns while running another in. Running back Gabriel Abel ran eight times, three of which found the end zone.
2026 Season Overview
NMU returns many of its starters from a year ago, including linebacker
Jax Hertel and running back
Noah Dobert, both of whom were named to the D2Football.com Elite 100 watchlist for this season. Both were also First-Team All-GLIAC last season, while Dobert rewrote the record books for NMU on the ground and was named a D2CCA Second Team All-American.
Dobert, a sophomore from Dearborn, Michigan, has 333 yards through three games and ranks second in the conference with 111.0 rushing yards/game.
He 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. Dobert's record-setting season included a 406-yard, four-touchdown performance against Wayne State, setting a new NMU single-game rushing record. He was named D2Football.com National Offensive Player of the Week following the performance and also earned GLIAC Offensive Back of the Year and D2CCA All-Super Region 3 First Team honors.
Hertel, a senior from Walworth, Wisconsin, returns after leading the Wildcats with 101 tackles in 2025, a total that ranked third in the GLIAC. His 14.5 tackles for loss led the conference, while 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.
NMU also returns multiple second-teamers and honorable mentions, including fifth-year offensive lineman
Daniel Babcock (Second-Team All-GLIAC), fifth-year defensive lineman
Jake Price (Honorable Mention All-GLIAC), and sophomore defensive back
Murphy Monreal (Honorable Mention All-GLIAC).
New Faces
NMU is in its first season under
Matt Janus. He finished 45-14 at UW-La Crosse, including consecutive WIAC titles in 2023 and 2024. In 2023, the team was undefeated in conference play and made the NCAA DIII Quarterfinals.
Janus brought in two coordinators with Division I experience:
Ryan Bright (defense) and
Boomer Roepke (offense). Bright has coached as a defensive analyst at Wisconsin and also worked with linebackers at Stanford. He was most recently at Arkansas, where he took over as interim linebackers coach midway through the season. Roepke worked as a graduate assistant at USC, then at Iowa State as a graduate assistant working with special teams and quarterbacks. More recently, he was head coach at the University of Northwestern-St. Paul, where he helped lead the program to undefeated UMAC conference championships in 2022 and 2024, along with two NCAA Division III playoff appearances. This past season, he served in a multitude of roles, including interim head coach and offensive coordinator.
NMU also added coaches from across the country as assistants, many of whom won conference titles or had other significant success in their previous coaching positions. It's clear NMU prioritized bringing a winning mentality to the program, along with coaches who excelled from JUCO all the way to Division I levels.
In addition, the Wildcats brought in several high-impact transfers, including OL
Mitch Verstegen from Indiana, DB
LeeJohn Majerus and DL
Jace Miller from Western Illinois, DL
Daniel Simon from Lindenwood, LB
Logan McGraw from Wayne State, and JUCO QB
Liam Oczkowski.
A Look at Davenport
Davenport was picked to finish fourth in the GLIAC Preseason Poll, just behind Michigan Tech. Davenport has opened the season 3-0, including a win at home against ranked Indianapolis. Their strong start to the season has propelled them to being ranked No. 24 in the AFCA Poll. After their strong start, Davenport is looking to move towards the top of the conference and compete with heavyweights Ferris State and Grand Valley State.
The Panthers opened their season against Gannon, where they won 32-20 in a game that remained close throughout. Davenport's Cephus Harris had 356 yards rushing and three touchdowns to lead the way.
In their second game, also at home, Davenport relied on their rushing attack again. Harris ran for 122 yards and a pair of touchdowns, Jonathan Palmer ran for 99, and Landon Tungate ran for 52 yards and a touchdown. Defensively, the team forced two fumbles.
Last weekend, Davenport pulled an upset over ranked UIndy, 19-12. They jumped out to a 16-0 lead in the first-half and were able to hold on to win a thriller. Once again, the rushing attack reigned supreme as the team ran for 327 yards. Harris had 120 and a touchdown, Mac VandenHout had 72, and Palmer ran for 84. The team averaged over 6 yards per carry with a devastating rushing attack. Defensively, the team recorded two sacks and an interception.
With 591 yards and 197.0 yards/game, Harris is the current Division II national leader on the ground.
The Series
Davenport leads the series 8-3, but Northern won last season's game in a quadruple-overtime thriller 47-45. That win snapped a six-game losing streak for the Wildcats in the series. Dobert led NMU with 243 rushing yards, and the team totaled over 350 on the ground. Defensively, Monreal Murphy secured an interception and
Jake Price added a sack.
