Southern Illinois may be in the Division I-AA, but NIU football coach Joe Novak doesn’t take them for a second-rate team.

“They can compete at this level,” said Novak about I-A football, which gives out 22 more scholarships than I-AA. “How did Northern beat Alabama? The difference is not that large.”

SIU plays NIU at 3:05 p.m. Saturday at Huskie Stadium. SIU is ranked No. 1 in I-AA after rolling over Southeast Missouri State 42-3 Sept. 2.

“I think they deserve that ranking,” Novak said. “They have a lot of guys back, and they’re sound. I think they’d come in the MAC and compete very well.”

The Huskies and Salukis both finished 10-2 last year, with SIU tying for the Gateway Athletic Conference title and qualifying for the playoffs.

The Huskies lost 23-20 in its season opener against Maryland Saturday.

“We need a win,” senior offensive tackle Jake VerStraete said. “We need to be 1-1 right now. We’re putting all of our focus on this game, and we’ll try to win the rest from there.”

Defensive end Larry English (left ankle sprain) and backup tailback Cas Prime (left knee sprain) are doubtful to play Saturday.

Quarterback Josh Haldi was taken out of the game against Maryland after the first offensive drive because of a stress fracture in his right foot. He is not expected to play until at least the beginning of MAC play against Bowling Green Sept. 24.

Redshirt sophomore Phil Horvath will start this Saturday with grayshirt freshman Chris Carr backing him up.

Horvath threw two interceptions in the first half against Maryland, but had 132 of his 219 yards in the second half.

“That first half was hopefully behind me,” Horvath said. “I feel a lot more comfortable. We didn’t do the best we could Saturday, and we still have some things to work on.”

Novak said he’s more comfortable starting Horvath now that he’s seen what he can do.

“We didn’t know what we were going to get,” the ninth-year head coach said. “Here’s a youngster who hadn’t played in about three years, and we didn’t know how he’d react. Did he do everything right? No, he made some mistakes, but I think he handled it well.“

SIU players are excited about heading to DeKalb, Saluki coach Jerry Kill said.

“It’s a tremendous challenge,” Kill said. “We’re going to play a team I have a great deal of respect for. In my mind, we’re playing a team that is a top-25 team in the country.”

The Huskies hold a 27-13-1 advantage over SIU in the all-time series. NIU has won the last four meetings between the two teams, with the last victory being a 45-15 win in 1993.

Five of the last six games between the intrastate foes have been decided by 10 points or less.

“They’ve had a lot of success,” Novak said. “I think they’ll come up here thinking this will be a big victory for them. They can use us for an example. Hey, if Northern can beat Alabama, then we can beat them.”