DeKALB | The Huskies will look for their seventh-consecutive victory against Mid-American Conference opponent the Western Michigan University Broncos (5-0, 1-0 MAC) 5:30 p.m. Saturday in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

NIU (1-4, 1-0 MAC) is coming off its first victory of the season after defeating Ball State University (3-2, 0-1 MAC) 31-24 in the Battle for the Bronze Stalk Saturday in Muncie, Indiana.

Redshirt senior quarterback Anthony Maddie had an impressive first career start in which he accounted for 458 yards of total offense — 298 passing and 160 rushing — including a highlight-reel, 75-yard run to score the first touchdown of the game.

“[The coaches] certainly feel good about how he executed for the majority of the time,” Head Coach Rod Carey said at Tuesday’s press conference.

Maddie, a Western Michigan transfer who came to NIU as a quarterback after sitting out in 2013 because of NCAA transfer rules, said switching from quarterback to wide receiver in fall camp gave him a different perspective on the difficulties of being a wide receiver.

“There [are] times, as a quarterback, you are tough on [wide] receivers,” Maddie said at Tuesday’s press conference. “Then after switching [film] rooms, I started to see where they’re coming from on [certain] things.”

The Huskies’ defense will have its hands full Saturday with Corey Davis, Western Michigan’s senior wide receiver, as he is the current Football Bowl Subdivision leader in career receiving yards with 4,252 and only needs to average 108 yards per game over the final seven games to break the Football Bowl Subdivision all-time record. Davis is also tied with former Broncos wide receiver Greg Jennings in career touchdown receptions with 39.

Davis has all the tools it takes to be a great wide receiver, Carey said at Tuesday’s press conference.

“[Davis] runs good routes, has good speed, good physical toughness, good strength [and is a] good route-runner,” Carey said. “The better question is, what his weakness is, and I don’t know if he has one. He’s a good football player.”

For the Huskies’ receiving core, Kenny Golladay, redshirt senior wide receiver, leads the MAC in receiving yards after a career-high 13 receptions and 184 receiving yards to go along with two touchdowns against Ball State. Golladay also leads the MAC in all-purpose yards (702), catches per game (7.4) and is tied with Davis for the lead in receiving touchdowns (6).

Carey said conference games are usually close and difficult to come out victorious in because the teams are so familiar with each other.

“It’s like fighting your brother,” Carey said. “You have enough video evidence of what they do, [and] you know what each other is going to do. [It’s about] who’s going to do it better.”

Saturday’s game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network and radio station WLBK-AM 1360/FM 98.9 and AM 560 The Answer for Chicago frequencies.