Junior defensive tackle Eric Didesch might be lost for the season after possibly tearing his anterior curtiate ligament.

Didesch said he is going to get tests done today. He left the first quarter of Saturday’s 41-16 victory over Sam Houston State and didn’t return; Rashad Walker will take over his spot.

Didesch said he was going after a screen pass and he planted his leg and turned, causing his knee to buckle.

“Hopefully it is nothing and I will be back next week,” the defensive tackle said. “Right now, I am just trying to keep a positive attitude.”

Continued dominance: Thomas Hammock rushed for his eighth straight 100-yard game, running for 152 yards on 35 carries. The junior tailback has rushed for three 100-yard games this season and ran for five in the 2000 campaign.

For the season, Hammock has rushed for 440 yards on 92 carries and one touchdown. Hammock is nine yards short of Mid-American Conference leader, Toledo’s Chester Taylor, who has rushed for 449 yards and nine touchdowns in three games this season.

Impressed: Fleck couldn’t believe how good Sam Houston’s wide receiver Jonathon Cooper was against the Huskies.

The Bearkat receiver finished with a game-high 11 receptions for 205 yards, and scored on a 52-yard pass from Josh McCown.

“That is tremendous,” Fleck said. “He’s a great athlete. He had a couple of drop balls and if he caught that, he could have had probably 250 yards.”

Ready: The Huskies cannot wait for Saturday’s game against Toledo. After the team entered the locker room, the team let out the rally cry, “Beat Toledo, Beat Toledo!”

Novak knows this is the game that will show if they belong in the upper echelon of the Mid-American Conference. For the first time since 1992, the Huskies open up the season 2-1.

Despite starting 2-1, Novak knows his team is better than that. NIU’s lone loss came from No. 22 Illinois Sept. 8, 17-12.

“I think we should be 3-0,” he said. “We’re in a tough stretch now. We go up against Toledo and Marshall the next two weeks. We are just going to have to keep improving. This is what it’s all about.”

Rescheduled: The Huskies’ game against Wake Forest, which was supposed to be played Sept. 15 at Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has been rescheduled to Nov. 24, with a kickoff at noon.