KALAMAZOO, Mich. – If the first play from scrimmage was an indication of things to come Saturday, Western Michigan coach Gary Darnell must have known it was going to be a long day.

From its own 22 yard-line, NIU did exactly what Darnell expected – hand the ball to Garrett Wolfe.

What Darnell didn’t expect was for Wolfe to break through the line and sprint 78 yards down the sideline for a touchdown and a Huskies lead just 17 seconds into the game.

The score was just one of many for NIU, which totaled a season-high 59 points in a 59-38 win over the Broncos at Waldo Stadium.

“The very player we set out to stop popped us on the first play, and that was very deflating,” Darnell said.

The win propelled the Huskies to No. 26 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll, while the team moved up to No. 29 in the Associated Press poll.

Wolfe’s touchdown extended his streak of scoring in every game this season while finishing with a game-high 185 yards on the ground for NIU (6-2 overall, 5-0 MAC). It also brought his nation-leading touchdowns total up to 15 on the season, but his performance was overshadowed by NIU quarterback Josh Haldi.

In three quarters, Haldi threw a career-high six touchdowns to three different receivers.

Three of the touchdown passes came to senior Dan Sheldon, who now has nine on the season.

“It’s something we anticipated they might do with the success we’ve had running the ball,” said Sheldon about WMU forcing NIU to pass. “It was nice to get out there, get some plays under our belt and some connections with Josh.”

Sheldon finished with a game-high 213 receiving yards, fourth most in NIU history. P.J. Fleck set the record at 234 against Ohio in 2003.

Sam Hurd had a pair of touchdowns catches where he out-jumped a Broncos defender for the ball. Tight end Brad Cieslak caught four passes for 111 yards and one touchdown for NIU.

Overall, the Broncos (1-6, 0-4) had the ball for 33:28, while the Huskies had possession for 26:32. But NIU scored on plays of 45, 63 and 78 yards with those three drives combining for only 1:15 of game time.

The Huskies offense finished with 652 yards of total offense while the Broncos let an opponent score 50 or more points for the third time this season and extended its losing streak to six.

“To come in here and win is a great win,” NIU Coach Joe Novak said. “It’s always tough to win on the road.”

With the win, NIU remained tied atop the MAC West Division with Toledo, which beat Central Michigan 27-22 Saturday.