Reading into Saturday’s season-ending contest with Cincinnati, the NIU football team has already assured itself of the best season under head coach Jerry Pettibone.

The Huskies (8-2) meet the Bearcats for the first time in both school’s history, and NIU is looking to equal its best regular-season, won-lost-tie record of 9-2. Only four other teams in Huskie football history have climbed to nine wins. The most recent being NIU’s 1983 season under coach Bill Mallory.

Prior to this season, the Huskies best season mark under Pettibone was last year’s 7-4 finish, which included a win over Big Ten foe Wisconsin.

Last Saturday, NIU knocked off the University of Toledo 39-27. The home-field win enabled the Huskies to finish the 1989 season undefeated at Huskie Stadium. With the 1:30 p.m. game at Cincinnati, NIU can continue to build on its success.

The Bearcat program appears to be in a slightly different position than NIU. Cincinnati has not had a winning season since 1982 under then head coach Mike Gottfried (6-5). This season, first-year Bearcat coach Tim Murphy commands the 1-8-1 squad. Murphy, 32, is the second-youngest major-college head football coach. Ironically, he has a team rich in youth and inexperience.

No matter how young and inexperienced Cincinnati may be, Pettibone remains cautious.

“We plan to approach the Cincinnati game the same way we did (against) Temple,” Pettibone said. “Cincinnati has played a lot of good football teams and had a lot of injuries. Traditionally, Cincinnati has been a leading independent in football and that’s the reputation our program seeks right now. This is their (UC’s) last game and they’ll be pulling out all the stops.

If the Bearcats plan on doing any stopping, NIU’s wishbone quarterback Stacey Robinson will be the one with the imaginary bulls-eye on his jersey. The man known as “Sauce” leads the Huskie offensive attack with his 1,162 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns. Robinson, the nation’s No. 1 rushing QB, ranks 13th in the NCAA in rushing (116.2 ypg). As a team, NIU rates seventh in team rushing with a 310 yards-per-game average.

This guy is as good as any Wishbone QB that I saw at Oklahoma,” Pettibone said of Robinson. “Stacey is the best all-purpose QB in the country. He really picked up our offense this year and executes it.”

Statistically, the Bearcats give up an average of 193 ground yards per game, while allowing 189 aerial yards. In total offensive yards, Cincinnati gives up 383 yards. The Bearcats have been outscored 323-108 on the season. NIU edges its opponents with a 288-266 mark.

CU’s scoring surge rests on the shoulders of junior tailback Terry Strong. The Flint, Mich., native averages four yards per carry, and has scored two touchdowns on the season. Strong’s longest run of the season was a 68-yard scamper.