David Archambeau/Daily Mining Gazette Cayman Berg-Morales, left, Graham Hubbell, middle and Glacier Wallington celebrate after Hubbell’s touchdown against Truman State Aug. 31 at Sherman Field. Tech travels to Hillsdale for Saturday’s game.

Michigan Tech (1-0) at Hillsdale Chargers (1-0)

When: 1 p.m. Saturday.

Where: Frank “Muddy” Waters Stadium in Hillsdale

Radio: 93.5 FM

Vido stream: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/hillsdale/

Five things to watch for:

1. Experienced Hillsdale

The Chargers return one of the most experienced teams in the country, as Hillsdale brought back 20 starters from last season’s 5-5 squad. Hillsdale edged Mercyhurst 19-11 on the road in Week 1. 

“They know themselves and what they can do very well,” Tech head coach Steve Olson said. “They’ve got good people that are back who have been through some battles. They’re not going to be caught off-guard, and they’re not going to get flustered if the game isn’t going exactly how they want it.”

2. Hillsdale quarterback Chance Stewart and wide receiver Trey Brock

Stewart and Brock make one of the most lethal quarterback-wide receiver combos Tech will face this year. Brock is currently on a school-record of nine games with at least 100 yards receiving, finishing with nine catches for 124 yards and a score against Mercyhurst. In Hillsdale’s 51-24 win over Tech last year, Brock caught nine passes for 160 yards and a touchdown. 

In his sophomore season last year, Stewart completed 65 percent of his passes for 2,546 yards, 19 touchdowns and two interceptions. One of his finest games of the season came against Tech, where he completed 19 of 31 passes for 355 yards, three touchdowns and an interception; he also ran for two scores. 

“He can deliver the football to the personnel that he has, and he has good personnel,” Olson said. “He also challenges you with his feet, because he can keep plays alive by throwing it and keep plays alive in the running game by getting yardage.”

3. Tech’s run game

The Huskies managed to get its run game on track after two seasons of finishing 10th and 11th in the GLIAC in yards per carry (4 yards per attempt). Tech finished with 236 yards rushing on 39 carries for a 6.1 yard average per attempt in a 38-14 win over the Truman State Bulldogs in Week 1. One of the changes Tech made was moving senior quarterback Jake Brown under center, instead of the pistol or shotgun snap, for the majority of plays. The result was a more aggressive, downhill running attack, and senior back John Williams finished with a career-high 176 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 21 carries.

Hillsdale was stingy on the ground against Mercyhurst, surrendering just 96 yards on 25 carries (3.8 per carry).

4. Third-down defense

Both Tech and Hillsdale featured exceptional third-down defense in their Week 1 victories. Tech limited Bulldogs to 1 of 14 on third-down conversions, while Hillsdale held Mercyhurst to 2 for 12. 

“We would like to be able to stop the run effectively and then get ourselves off the field on third down,” Olson said. “On the offensive side of the ball, you want to keep yourself in manageable down and distances, but you gotta do what you gotta do to move the football and take what the defense gives you.”

5. Brown doesn’t mind the “game manager” label

If you thought Brown was a game manager in the win against Truman State, he would agree with you — and that’s just fine with him. Brown completed 12 of 17 passes for 121 yards and a touchdown. His longest completion was a 25-yard touchdown to Kevin Kirkland on a fly route. 

Following the contest, Brown insisted the “game manager” label that’s thrown around with a negative connotation doesn’t bother him, and that he embraces it. Offensive coordinator Dan Mettlach also believes there’s nothing wrong with being a game manager.

“In my mind, any time you’re talking about the quarterback position and being able to manage the game, that’s one of the most important things that we talk about in our room,” Mettlach said. “It’s something that (Jake) needs to do in our offense from the stance of getting us in the right checks and getting us out of the wrong plays, and then just distributing the ball to our guys and letting them go make a play for him, rather than having to throw vertical routes all the time to make a big play.”