The NIU football team would like nothing more than for recent history to repeat itself—at least in terms of the Huskies’ performances against Western Michigan.

The Broncos, Saturday’s 1:05 p.m. Homecoming opponent, have dropped their last five decisions to NIU.

But this could be the year WM breaks the losing streak. The Huskies are an injury-depleted 1-4 squad. The Broncos are 4-2, with one of the losses coming at No. 1 ranked Florida State, 58-0.

The Broncos are coming off a 25-16 victory over Ball State in Muncie, Ind. WM’s main offensive cog, quarterback Brad Tayles, connected on 12-of-24 passes for 179 yards and added a touchdown.

But WM head coach Al Molde feels that NIU’s recent success against his club might be hard to overcome.

“The Northern team has been a difficult opponent,” Molde said. “We haven’t beaten Northern Illinois in the two games our staff has coached against them.”

The teams last met in 1988 at Huskie Stadium. The Huskies, led by freshman fullback Adam Dach’s 107 yards, beat the Mid-American champions and California Bowl bound Broncos 15-7.

Despite the recent NIU surge, WM holds a 14-6 series edge, with most of those games coming when NIU was also a MAC member.

Aside from stopping the Huskies’ winning streak, Molde would also like to keep his team’s recent winning ways alive.

“Winning Saturday is important because we’re trying to build momentum,” Molde said. “We played very well defensively (against Ball State).

“Our offense sputtered in the last half and we have to do a better job of scoring touchdowns once we get inside the other team’s 25-yard line.”

One of the main reasons the Broncos offense sputtered was the absence of All-MAC running back Corey Sylve. Sylve, who’s averaging 146 all-purpose yards a game, missed the Ball State match with an ankle injury.

Running back Andre Wallace, a native of Evanston, stepped in for Sylve against Ball State and produced 113 yards on 40 carries.

The game will be broadcast live on SportsChannel Chicago with replays Friday Oct. 18 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday Oct. 19 at 7:00 a.m.