After the NIU offense struggled on the road against Power 4 schools ranked 13th and 16th nationally in scoring defense, the Huskies return to DeKalb this week to face *check notes* the 17th best scoring defense in the country.

If the Huskies can’t find a way to score points soon, there’s a very good chance they’ll be sitting at 1-3 at the start of Mid-American Conference play.

That makes the game Saturday against San Diego State at Huskie Stadium about more than getting back to .500. It’s about identity. It’s about trajectory. And it’s about proving the offense isn’t broken.

The Huskies have scored exactly one (1) offensive touchdown in each of their first three games. A 96-yard kickoff return by Dev’ion Reynolds is the main reason they escaped Holy Cross, an 0-4 FCS team.

The Huskies followed that six days later with a 20-9 loss at Maryland. The Terps are coming off a 27-10 road win at Wisconsin and held FAU to seven points in their opener, so obviously that defense is doing things this year.

Maryland is 13th nationally in scoring defense and 40th in total defense.

The Huskies had a week off to prepare for Mississippi State, a 38-10 loss. It was 21-10 in the second half when Josh Holst had an open Gary Givens in the end zone. They didn’t connect for the score and four plays later Holst threw an interception. The Bulldogs scored on their next three drives and the rout was on.

Mississippi State is 26th in total defense and 16th in scoring defense.

And now San Diego State heads to Huskie Stadium on Saturday. They’re fresh off a 34-0 win against Cal and also beat Stony Brook 42-0 in the opener. Those shutouts were sandwiched around a 36-13 loss to Washington State.

The Aztecs are 24th in total defense and 17th in scoring defense.

All of this is just a very, very long way of saying the NIU offense has struggled mightily to put points on the board this year, though two of the three teams they’ve faced are Power 4 schools that with Top 20 defenses and matching 4-0 records.

The Huskies are 129th in total offense with 275 yards per game. And they are 133rd in scoring offense at 12.7 points per game. That’s out of 134 teams. Only Western Michigan, at 12.5 points per game, is averaging less. (Tickets now available for the Western Michigan-NIU game Nov. 18 in DeKalb, the Huskies’ final midweek MACtion game before leaving for the Mountain West.)

Which is why the game Saturday against the Aztecs matters beyond the difference between starting 2-2 and 1-3.

If NIU loses a 37-35 shootout, it probably bodes better for MAC play than a 15-11 win or whatever ends up happening.

Chavon Wright and Telly Johnson have proven able to run the ball well this year, but Mississippi State proved that if the passing game can’t get going, teams can focus on taking the run away. The two are combining for about 130 yards per game but managed 93 combined against the Bulldogs.

So we’ll see what Holst and the passing attack can do against the Aztecs, 34th in the country in passing yards allowed (175.7). NIU is 130th with 114 passing yards per game. Holst has completed 63.5% of his passes for 327 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.

And if it’s another low-scoring loss (or even a low-scoring win), it probably means the Huskies’ final MAC season may not be the farewell tour they were hoping for.