When the lights click on tonight at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa, the NIU football team will shed the practice shells and don full uniforms for the first time in 2010.

Unlike the NFL, there have been no preseason games for NIU head coach Jerry Kill to gauge his team’s progress. With that factor in place, what happens between the lines against Iowa State is a mystery to everybody.

“You get an idea of what your strengths and weaknesses are in practice, but until you play a game there might be a young man who excels in a game situation who maybe didn’t excel in a practice situation,” Kill said. “Maybe they play better when the lights come on and some won’t play as good. You got to get to that game to really get the feel for those kinds of things.”

A strength of the Huskies the past two seasons has been a No. 1 defense in the Mid-American Conference, backed by a consistent run game on the offense. That defense will start the year with one of its toughest tasks all season.

Cyclone running back Alexander Robinson comes off a year where he rushed for 1,195 yards and is a candidate for the 2010 Doak Walker Award. Under center, quarterback Austen Arnaud is a dual-threat.

“I think the main key is going to be just doing your assignments, not trying to be out there making every play,” said junior safety Tracy Wilson. “Just knowing you have 10 other guys on the field with you, you don’t have to make every tackle. So it’s just doing your assignment.”

Another Walker Award candidate, Chad Spann, will start at running back for the Huskies but Kill said a starting quarterback will not be named until game time.

Redshirt juniors DeMarcus Grady and Chandler Harnish have been competing for the starting spot throughout fall camp. Harnish is coming off a knee injury that limited him in spring practice.

“It’s just like anything: you try to go into a game, you don’t want to let a coordinator prepare anything different,” Kill said. “Whoever it’s going to be, we don’t want to reveal that.”

NIU is 1-2 all-time against Iowa State and 4-9 against the current makeup of the Big 12. Last time the Huskies and Cyclones matched up was 2004 in Ames. ISU came out on top 48-41. The Huskies’ only win came in 2003 at home, topping the Cyclones 24-16 en route to a 10-2 season.

In its first meeting the Cyclones won 54-10 in 1993. NIU finished that season 4-7, while finishing 2004 with a 9-3 record.