Bruce Perry or not, the NIU football team is in for a world of trouble when Maryland brings its ground game to DeKalb on Thursday.

“Their D-line is outmatched and this offense is gonna pound them and pound them and pound them even more,” former NIU football coach and current ESPN analyst Lee Corso said.

Granted, these are general lines plugged into EA Sports’ “NCAA Football 2004” memory, when 10 games between the Terps and Huskies were simulated (five without Perry as he’s unlikely to play because of an ankle injury).

Regardless of the different number of comments used before each game begins, this was the one Corso picked, and it’s not too far from reality.

NIU went 0-5 in five simulated games of “NCAA Football 2004” against a Bruce Perry-less Terrapin squad.

Maryland averaged 38 points and NIU countered with an average of three Steve Azar field goals.

The closest game was 41-27, in which Michael Turner ran 39 times for 220 yards. One play included a double-reverse pass by P.J. Fleck to Dan Sheldon.

The Burner will have to play the game of his life on Thursday if the Huskies want to beat Maryland. Forty carries and a few trick plays couldn’t hurt NIU’s offense if done with precision timing.

When Bruce Perry was in the Terps’ backfield, NIU went a surprising 2-3. A four-point margin, 35-31, was all that separated NIU from Maryland’s average score. Turner didn’t even run for 200 or more yards in any of the games.

Perry averaged 19 carries for 112.4 yards for the Terps during the five games, but never outrushed Turner.

Great, but there is a 99.9-percent chance Perry won’t even play Thursday. Terps’ sophomore Josh Allen will get the carries and his average of 112.2 yards over the five simulated games when Perry was absent exemplifies that Maryland isn’t all about its top running backs.

Maryland averaged 51 rushes over the 10 games, and used all three running backs in the process.

Vinson Reynolds, Travis Moore and Jason Frank will contain the outside at defensive end. It’s Maryland’s between-the-tackles game that will be the cause for major concern.

The Huskies are not deep at defensive tackle. The name of the game will be team football for NIU’s defense.

Huskie Stadium was at full capacity in the video game, as even the end zone seats were full. The end zone being jammed with fans isn’t realistic, but the rest of the stadium being packed is.

Bring the noise, Maryland. Video games aren’t real anyway.