DeKalb — Coming off of an upset win against the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln, Nebraska Sept. 16, the Huskies will travel to the west coast to face the No. 19 ranked San Diego State University Aztecs at former NFL venue Qualcomm Stadium.

Head Coach Rod Carey knows his team is going to have to battle through adversity and knows San Diego State is a well coached and well-run program.

“San Diego State is a good football team [and] obviously we played them last year,” Carey said. “They are extremely well coached, they are good football players [and] they know their scheme. It’s going to be a challenge for us to go out there across the country and deal with the travel and the night game. [However], it’s college football,and we are looking forward to the challenges.”

The Huskies are coming into this game with a record 2-1 after a bye week.

The Aztecs enter their fifth week of the season with a 4-0 record, with big wins coming against Arizona State University and Stanford University.

The last time these two teams met was in 2016 where the Aztecs tallied 404 yards with 278 coming from running back Donnel Pumphrey, who currently plays in the NFL. The Aztecs won 42-28 Sept. 16, 2016 in DeKalb.

Senior running back Rashaad Penny is on pace to break Pumphrey’s stats with 716 rushing yards and seven touchdowns so far this year, according to ESPN.

“Their run game with Pomphrey last year is similar to this year with Penny,” Carey said. “They may do a few things differently because Penny’s strengths are different than Pumphrey’s, but they have a system that they believe in. [Penny] is a physical, downhill runner that has breakaway speed and good elusiveness.”

For NIU, redshirt sophomore quarterback Daniel Santacaterina will be the starter with redshirt junior quarterback Ryan Graham still out with an elbow injury.

Santacaterina is coming off his second straight victory while leading the Huskies offense. He has thrown for 380 yards, three touchdowns and one interception this season.

The Huskies defense will look to continue the momentum from two weeks ago when they had two interception returns for touchdowns – one being from senior cornerback Shawun Lurry and the other from redshirt junior linebacker Juwan Johnson.

Carey complimented the recent play of Lurry and said he is that he is a great player to have on the team on and off the field.

“[Lurry] is playing with confidence and some of that confidence wavered last year because he was so bumped and bruised at times,” Carey said. “He has a unique skillset that everyone realizes on the team. He has fun with it [and the team] has fun [with him] in practice and I think that that energy that he brings in practice [that rubs off on everybody.”

Carey complimented his defense and hopes the trend continues in their next game against the Aztecs.

NIU will battle the San Diego State Aztecs 9:30 p.m. Saturday at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.