Even the No. 4 team in the nation can’t stop Garrett Wolfe.

After his 148-yard output against Michigan Saturday, Wolfe was named MAC West Player of the Week. This is the fifth time he had garnered the honor.

“Garrett had a great game,” NIU coach Joe Novak said. “And he did this against Michigan. Garrett stepped it up against a Big Ten team.”

Wolfe’s 76-yard touchdown run in the second quarter was one of the longest ever given up in Michigan’s history and the 15th-longest in NIU history.

“That was a big-time run,” Novak said. “To be honest, I thought he was going to get caught. There were four Michigan defenders chasing him. Garrett has great vision and a knack for knowing what’s going on around him.”

Instant impact

Making his first collegiate start against Michigan, free safety Dustin Utschig didn’t wait long to show what he can do.

The 5-foot-10, 196 pounder tallied 13 tackles, nine of them solo, to lead the Huskies.

While safeties are supposed to help out in the passing game, most of Utschig’s tackles came in trying to stop Michigan running back Mike Hart.

“Our safeties always do [help against the run],” Novak said. “He made some tackles through the passing game too. But we put a lot of responsibility on [our safeties].”

Captain down

While his counterpart was leading the team in tackles, strong safety Ray Smith had to watch part of Saturday’s game from the sidelines.

Smith was taken off the field in the second half of Saturday’s game. In the post-game press conference, Smith was favoring his lower back and right hip and had trouble standing up from his chair.

“Ray’s status has improved a great deal,” Novak said. “But if he can’t go, Mark Reiter would step in. He was very close in the competition with [Utschig] for the other starting safety position.”

Block party

With his block of an extra point in the second quarter, defensive lineman Quince Holman has now blocked at least one field-goal attempt in the last three seasons.

“I was the primary rusher,” said the senior from Woodridge. “I just stuck out my hand and hit the ball.”

Holman made his presence felt later in the game when he again got his hand on a field-goal attempt and partially blocked it.

Under appreciated no more

Running back A.J. Harris may be backing up Wolfe, but that’s doesn’t mean he’s not getting noticed.

The senior was recently voted onto the Consensus Draft Services’ All Under Appreciated Second Team at condraft.com

Twelve writers from all over the country put in their votes for the polls.

“We’ve tried to identify people who haven’t gotten enough respect,” co-founder Steve Martin said. “And he has been exceptional.”