by Kalamazoo Gazette

1. Me'Co Brown and the Huskie rushing attack. Northern Illinois' workhorse running back is averaging 6.0 yards per carry and plowed through Purdue's defense for 150 yards on 26 carries, and fleet-footed QB Chandler Harnish doesn't make it any easier on opponents. Back-to-back games against Miami-Ohio and Hofstra have made the Broncos' rush defense look respectable. We'll find out Saturday if it actually is. WMU's defense allowed 242 yards on the ground against Michigan and another 187 at Indiana -- both of which are more comparable running games to NIU than Hofstra or Miami. WMU's success against the Huskies in recent seasons has been directly tied to its success at slowing the run. In 2005, led by Garrett Wolfe, NIU torched WMU for 366 yards on the ground in a 42-7 rout. Northern Illinois has averaged 90.6 yards rushing the last three meetings, all WMU wins, including zero yards in 2006. Want to beat the Huskies? Hold them under 150 yards on the ground. Wisconsin and Idaho did and both won. Purdue let up 280 yards rushing and Western Illinois 244. And you can guess the results.

2. Juan-less wideouts. There is no doubt that WMU's young receivers are beginning to figure out college football , and that the addition of a suddenly healthy Jordan White (nine catches, 101 yards last week) and the emergence of juco transfer Chleb Ravenell (seven for 99) make this a deeper crew than it was when it rolled into Ann Arbor a month ago. Still, missing its leading receiver and best deep threat in Nunez, who is expected to be sidelined today with a bruised left knee, undoubtedly hurts WMU. With Nunez, the Broncos had three ready-for-prime-time threats at receiver to go along with reliable possession target Robert Arnheim. The wideout position was beginning to become one of strength and depth for this team -- and probably will once Nunez returns. Minus Nunez, though, freshman Ansel Ponder needs to find the spark that made him a starter throughout fall camp and White and Ravenell have to again look like they did against Hofstra. Nunez has disappeared at times throughout the first four weeks, but his speed and history of big plays forces defenses to always account for him. That'll be missed in DeKalb.

3. Protecting Tim Hiller. When he's got time, WMU's senior quarterback is one of the better passers and decision-makers in college football . Like most QBs, when he doesn't, he's not. Juan Nunez's absence means one less weapon, one less explosive player. It means pressure on other younger receivers. It means Hiller might need another half-second in the pocket. WMU's offensive line, as touted as it was entering the season, has been inconsistent in its protection of The Franchise. Hiller's been sacked eight times in four games and hurried and hit quite a few more. Northern Illinois doesn't have the great rush end it did a year ago in Larry English, but Miami-Ohio didn't either and the RedHawks had no trouble dropping Hiller three times. WMU's O-line remains fairly young in terms of class, but there is enough experience and talent for the unit to be one of the better groups in the MAC. If it doesn't begin to live up to its billing Saturday by protecting Hiller, WMU has no chance.

4. Youth under fire. There are distractions this week and excuses ready to go -- no Juan Nunez (knee) or Doug Wiggins (suspension), a tough road environment, possible bad weather. Good teams aren't bothered by any of it. They plug the next guy it and hit you in the mouth. WMU hasn't shown itself to be that type of team yet. They've been pushed around more often than they've done the pushing, and haven't succeeded much when it's gotten rough -- other than waking up in time to pull away from Hofstra last week. Today's game will tell us a ton. Can the youth on this team grow up in time to make this a successful season? Or will it by like 2007, when it didn't happen until it was too late? WMU's performance today will say a lot.

5. The Huskie Stadium weather. As Austin Pritchard put it, Tuesday's practice was an excellent dry run (or misty, gray run) for what WMU is likely to face, per usual, in DeKalb. "It's gray, it's cloudy, misty. Windy, too, because they got that open stadium. Wind blows right through that," Pritchard said. Saturday's weather calls for more DeKalb dreariness -- 53 and cloudy with a 40 percent chance of rain, to be exact. That favors NIU, which is used to playing on the Illinois prairie (or, "the middle of nowhere," as Louis Delmas once called it). The Huskies are a physical, pound-it-at-you team, which is built for blustery days in late November. WMU's more intricate offense relies on the precision of Tim Hiller's throws.

Prediction

If you listen closely, you can already hear the wind howling at Huskie Stadium. NIU isn't unbeatable -- an improved Idaho squad proved that last week -- but it's a physical football team that doesn't lose twice in a row at home very often. Don't have a good feeling about this one.

Make it: Northern Illinois 30, WMU 21.

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