According to an NCAA study, the NIU football team faces the fourth-toughest schedule in the country this year.

Which means the Huskies opener at Fresno State could prove to be an appropriate appetizer for NIU’s rugged menu of opponents.

The Bulldogs (8-2-1) will be seeking to avenge last season’s 73-18 thrashing at the hands of the Huskies. The squads open the season at Fresno’s Bulldog Stadium, Saturday at 9 p.m.

Fresno State was riding high last October. The Bulldogs were undefeated (5-0) and ranked 24th when they entered Huskie Stadium for NIU’s Homecoming game.

They left battered and humiliated as NIU’s record-setting romp made national sports news.

New NIU coach Charlie Sadler has the unenviable task of preventing Fresno State’s quest for revenge.

“Last year at Northern was a Waterloo for us,” said veteran Fresno State head coach Jim Sweeney. “That game was a national embarrassment.”

But Sweeney discounts the notion that the Bulldogs will be hellbent for revenge.

“I think the revenge factor is overrated. We can’t lose our poise and focus,” Sweeney said. “But when you get beat like that, you do work harder in practice. Monday we had the longest, hardest practice we’ve had here in a long time—at the end, our players were talking about just surviving.”

The Bulldogs are favored to win the Big West Conference this season, despite the loss of running back Aaron Craver to the Miami Dolphins.

Highly-touted quarterback Mark Barsotti and Big West Defensive Player of the Year, free safety Marquez Pope, return, as do 15 other starters for the Bulldogs.

With that kind of experience, Sweeney feels NIU (6-5 last year) will face a better Fresno State team in this season’s rematch.

“I picked us to win (the Big West),” Sweeney said. “We’re going to be a better football team than last year. I made the statement that we were a year away in 1990 because we had lost so many players. Our biggest problem last year was that we were so thin—we were the walking wounded.”

Fresno State looses only three offensive starters, and only one offensive lineman from 1990, leaving Sweeney confident that NIU will have a harder time handling his squad on the line of scrimmage.

“The one area in football you can trace greatness to is the offensive line play. This year, our offensive line is older and more experienced,” Sweeney said. “That means we’ll be able to run the ball better.”

The key to the 1990 game was Fresno State’s inability to stop the wishbone option and the speed of quarterback Stacey Robinson.

With the departure of Robinson and former head coach Jerry Pettibone’s wishbone offense, the Bulldogs face an unknown commodity in Sadler’s multiple-I offense. A notion that worries Sweeney.

“We’re very concerned because we’re making assumptions,” Sweeney said. “We’re assuming (Sadler) will run the same defense as in Oklahoma (where Sadler was defensive coordinator before coming to NIU). We are also looking at the Oklahoma offense. NIU has got more of a base for operation because we’re making guesses.”

Sadler doesn’t concede an NIU advantage because of the Huskies’ new schemes.

“It might be a little advantage, but we’ll be guessing too,” Sadler said. “They probably won’t be running the same offense and defense either.

“We can’t allow turnovers that will give them field position,” Sadler said of the keys to an NIU victory. “We can’t have any breakdowns that will give them a cheap touchdown.”

Fresno State had a good team last year,” Sadler added. “They are as good if not better this year.”

The Bulldogs-Huskies rematch has been receiving national attention, including a mention in Sports Illustrated. But Sweeney downplays the significance of Saturday’s game.

“I’ve told the players it doesn’t make a difference who you play, it’s how you play,” Sweeney said. “A lot of our people think we’re concerned about the score—that’s what the fans live on.

“We’re just worried about winning the football game.”