DeKALB | Two down, one left — consecutive road games, that is, for the NIU football team.

The Huskies will look for their fifth win in a row and third on the road, as they take on Western Michigan at 1 p.m. Saturday. Comcast SportsNet will televise the contest.

The game will feature the best total offense in the MAC in NIU (4-2 overall, 3-1 MAC), against the best total defense in the conference in WMU (3-2, 1-1).

The Broncos lead the conference in limiting opponents’ first downs with 72 for the season. That’s 25 less than second-best Miami-Ohio. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Huskies have 121 first downs, the most in the MAC.

More than half of those first downs came from the running game and a majority of those came from senior running back Garrett Wolfe. The Chicago native, averaging a nation-leading 223.8 rushing yards per game, will have to go against a defense that is keeping the average rush attack to 98.8 yards per game.

“They’re playing really good defense and offensively, they’re running the ball a lot more,” said coach Joe Novak. “They’re mixing it up more.”

That mixed attack has allowed WMU running back Mark Bonds to average a MAC second-best 92.8 rushing yards per game. Yet the mix hasn’t transferred into success for the Broncos’ passing attack, as they rate last in the MAC.

But by keeping their opponents to an average of 18.6 points per game, WMU’s lack of a passing game hasn’t stopped it from beating teams like Virginia and Toledo.

“They’re a great defense. They’re strong, they’re physical and they run pretty good,” said quarterback Phil Horvath. “They’re a very heavy blitz team. I know we’re going to have to prepare for everything.”

The heavy blitzes have paid off for the Broncos. WMU’s defense has 16 sacks so far this season, enough for second-best in the MAC.

But preparing for everything has been different this season compared to others for the Huskies. Horvath points out that his team has yet to see one conventional defense.

“It’s getting ridiculous. It’s just teams are going — they’re going to do anything they can to stop Garrett,” the senior quarterback said. “We have to complete passes to put some more pressure on them so they’ll back up and we can get it back to Garrett again.”

Ben Gross is an NIU football beat reporter for the Northern Star.