DeKALB – As its shot at back-to-back MAC titles dwindles, NIU football prepares to travel to Rynearson Stadium to take on its oldest foe, the Eastern Michigan University Eagles.

The two teams have played each other since 1927, with the Huskies leading the series 34-16-2 against the Eagles. The last time the two teams met in DeKalb for NIU’s 114th homecoming, the Huskies came away with a 27-20 win over the Eagles. Sophomore running back Antario Brown rushed for 101 yards on 16 carries helping to put the Huskies up 17-0 in the first half. The Huskies ran the ball for 242 yards on 55 carries while holding the Eagles to only 38 yards on 22 carries with help from five sacks.

NIU, sitting at 1-5 overall and 0-2 against the conference, can only lose one more game to keep its hopes of bowl eligibility alive. The Huskies have dropped their past five games, two of which resulted in NIU losing its claim of the Bronze Stalk Trophy and a Homecoming loss in front of the home crowd.

Hammock gave his input on the recent losses during a weekly press conference on Monday.

“We have to respond,” Hammock said. “Adversity is part of life, it’s part of the game of football, and how you respond to it goes a long way in determining the type of person you are.”

NIU could potentially see a return of its starting passer, redshirt senior Rocky Lombardi, who has been out with an undisclosed leg injury since NIU’s 38-28 loss to Vanderbilt University on Sept. 17.

The Huskies are fresh off a 52-32 defeat to the Toledo Rockets that saw redshirt freshman quarterbacks throw four interceptions to the same defender. NIU had a fourth quarter surge to narrow the deficit, posting 25 points that were aided by a pair of onside kick recoveries.

The past two weeks have been historic ones for the Huskies, however, sophomore running back Harrison Waylee ran for a career high of 230 yards on 30 carries with three touchdowns against Ball State. Waylee then followed this up with a career best 10 catches for 96 yards last week against Toledo, setting the NIU record for most catches by a running back in a game. Head coach Thomas Hammock was also one of 13 inductees into the NIU Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday.

After a huge impact from the special teams in last week’s game, Hammock was asked what to expect from our special teams unit.

“A great challenge for us, I think the guys on our special teams unit are embracing their roles.”

Hammock added that the Eagles have a tough special teams unit, hailing an ‘explosive’ kick returner, junior running back Jaylon Jackson, and an ‘aggressive’ punt block team.

Eastern Michigan currently sits at third in the MAC West, coming off of a 45-23 road win against Western Michigan University (2-4, 1-1 MAC) on Saturday.

Hammock has also made it clear that practice has put a huge focus on slowing the offensive and defensive attacks of the Eagles. On the offensive side, the Huskies will have to take on a tough passing scheme headed by graduate quarterback Taylor Powell. Graduate wide receivers Tanner Knue and Hassan Beydoun are Powell’s primary targets.

The Eagles also boast multiple talented defenders capable of stopping an offense such as graduate defensive linemen Jose Ramirez, Jordan Crawford and junior linebacker Chase Kline as well as a formidable defensive backfield.

“Number four is a guy that can rush the passer, number 93 is a run stopper in the middle, number six is a big physical linebacker and then on the back end, they wanna be able to be aggressive and play man coverage… and those are the things that we have to be able to understand that they are trying to do.”

Saturday’s game will kick off at 2:30 p.m. CT Wednesday in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The game will be broadcasted on ESPN+. A radio broadcast will be available at The Varsity Network. Live statistics can be monitored on SIDEARM Sports.