Buffalo at NIU: 3 things to know about the MAC opener

DeKALB – The NIU football team, No. 23 in the latest AP poll, will face Buffalo on Saturday in its first game since beating No. 5 Notre Dame in South Bend.

The Mid-American Conference opener for both teams kicks off at 2:30 p.m. Saturday and will air on ESPN+.

Here are three things to know about the game.

Focus on MAC play, not Notre Dame

The Huskies’ win at South Bend is still a major national storyline, especially after the Irish bounced back with a 66-7 win against Purdue to move up to No. 17. NIU (2-0) had a bye last week.

The focus this week is on the Bulls (2-1), who lost 38-0 at No. 9 Missouri but beat Lafayette 30-13 and UMass 34-3.

“First MAC game, big deal for us,” coach Thomas Hammock said. “Like I told our team, no one measures you for a ring for playing Notre Dame. Our goal is to compete for a championship and we have our first opportunity to move up in the race this week.”

Cornerback JaVaughn Byrd said the Huskies are determined not to let Saturday become a trap game.

“You see it all the time where people beat a higher-up then let things go to their head,” Byrd said. “But that’s not the culture of our program. Yes, I acknowledge it’s a big win but in this program we’re focused on going 1-0 every week. A lot of good things have come from this and we’re more than grateful for those things, but we have a lot of football left to play.”

High-powered offense, at least through two games

Quarterback Ethan Hampton leads the nation in pass efficiency (235.9), is 12th in completion percentage (71.8%), is second with 18.79 yards per completion and leads the country in yards per attempt at 13.49.

Antario Brown is fifth in the country, averaging 169.5 all-purpose yards per game. And overall, the Huskies are seventh in total offense with 547 yards per game and 15th with 251 rushing yards per game.

“Top 25 after two games really doesn’t mean much,” Hammock said. “We would like to be Top 25 after 12 games. But what I’ve seen is balance. We’ve been able to run and pass and keep people off balance. I think we have to continue to maintain that balance.”

Hampton said he’s a lot more comfortable in the offense and that’s leading to better decisions.

“When you’re comfortable and confident, that makes you play way better,” Hampton said.

Home-field advantage

Hammock and the players said that they hope the attention the program has received since beating Notre Dame translates to more fans at Huskie Stadium.

The home opener against Western Illinois drew 10,828 fans. The most attended game last year was the home opener against Southern Illinois, as 13,114 witnessed the 14-11 loss. The last three dates, including one Saturday game, drew under 10,000 fans.

“It would be a blessing for us as a football team for the Huskie community to all come out on Saturday,” safety Nate Valcarcel said. “Especially for the defense, third down for defense is not as loud as being at home. So having that crowd noise on third down can be great for us.”

Hammock has used the national media platform over the past couple weeks to stress the importance of traditional donations through the Huskie Athletic Fund and modern name, image and likeness deals, as the team received sunglasses from a corporate sponsor after the win.

“Everybody is happy we won that game last week, but to maintain that or to be able to continue to move forward, it takes an investment,” Hammock said. “Certainly our Huskie Athletic Fund has done a great job of building off a moment to a movement. If we can continue to do that we can build the type of team we want to be in this new day and age of college football.”

Prediction: NIU 28, Buffalo 10