on Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021, in Houghton, Mich. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

Michigan Tech football plays its first road game of the season Saturday, and the team is in a better spot than it was.

The Huskies (2-2) entered last week’s game against Davenport with questions about its offensive consistency. They thwarted those questions with an assertive performance, scoring 31 points and stringing together more consistency in their offensive drives. Multiple players had chances to make plays — catching a pass, taking a handoff and churning up yards — and they all came through in a 31-7 victory.

Now, the Huskies make their first road trip of the season, facing Wayne State (0-5) at 6 p.m. Saturday in Detroit.

But the Huskies also left Sherman Field at Kearly Stadium after last week’s win with more questions.

All-American senior defensive lineman Nate LaJoie left the game in the second quarter with an apparent knee injury. He stood on the sidelines with crutches and an ice pack wrapped around his knee, watching the second half. LaJoie participated in practice during the week but head coach Steve Olson declined to specify LaJoie’s status for Saturday’s game.

The Huskies defense has been very productive this season, with LaJoie being a main contributor. LaJoie had a sack and drew a lot of attention from the Panthers’ line. The rest of the Huskies had seven sacks and three tackles for loss, three forced fumbles and two interceptions.

LaJoie’s not the only injury the Huskies have dealt with, as the offensive line has shuffled through the season. Olson hasn’t discussed specifics, citing student-athletes’ medical privacy.

“We’re just trying to get healthy at all spots where we have anybody banged up and stuff like that,” Olson said. “I think we’ll be ready to go.”

There’s a philosophy, at least on the Huskies’ defensive side of the ball, that they can’t depend too heavily on any one player. Junior linebacker Fred Kemp said after the Oct. 2 win against Davenport the Huskies defense has a “next man up” mentality.

“It’s big, but it’s always the next guy mentality,” he said. “The next guy always has to be ready. That’s what we say for all of our starters, like next guy always has to be ready to play.”

Offense rolls

The Huskies enjoyed a quick start against Davenport on Oct. 2. Tech’s defense held the Panthers to just 10 total yards in the first quarter, while the Huskies offense throttled up to speed, scoring a pair of touchdowns each in the first and second quarters.

Tech put up 243 yards of offense, including 113 passing and 130 rushing.

Will Marano led Huskies rushing with 90 yards and a TD on 21 carries.

Four different Tech receivers caught a pass, with Darius Willus and tight end Hunter Richards having TD receptions. Willis had 57 receiving yards and Richards had 37, indluing a 33-yard TD catch.

Most importantly for the Huskies is they showed more confidence, and that showed on third downs. Tech converted 5 of 13 (38%) third downs.

The offense-defense formed a firm one-two punch late in the first quarter and early in the second against Davenport that gave a glimpse of the Huskies at their full might.

Tech’s defense forced and recovered a fumble, and the Huskies offense scored to cap a two-minute drive that lasted four plays and 30 yards.

The Huskies defense forced a punt on Davenport’s drive, and the Huskies’ offense strung a 12-play, 54-yard drive lasting seven minutes that ended with a touchdown to make it a 21-0 game.

Wary Warriors

Wayne State may perhaps be one of the better winless programs in the GLIAC. The Warriors lost 24-21 to No. 6 Slippery Rock in the season opener. They lost 27-9 to Truman State, which received votes in this week’s AFCA Division II Poll.

Olson said he and the team are aware Wayne State is eager for a win, and a winless record is no indication the Huskies will simply get a win by showing up.

“Wayne State might be one of the best 0-5 football teams in the country,” Olson said. “They’ve played a lot of good caliber competition early on in the season. They’ve had a lot of close games that they’ve not won. They always are a physical football team so we’re gonna have our hands full going down there and we have to come out and we have to be ready to play and meet their excitement — it’s going to be their homecoming — so it’ll be a challenge for us.”

The Warriors are led on offense by redshirt junior quarterback Chase Churchill. He’s completed 28 of 67 passes for 434 yards and four touchdowns.

The Warriors have two receivers that have been deep threats, with Trevonte Davis being the far and away top target. He has 22 catches for 404 yards and three touchdowns. Jesse Prewitt has 12 catches for 239 yards and two touchdowns.

Myren Harris leads the Warriors rushing attack with 281 yards on 54 carries (5.2 yards per carry) and three touchdowns.

The production of Davis, Prewitt and Harris is a trifecta highlighted by what Olson said is something Wayne State is known for: establishing the run game and then going deep.

“Wayne State traditionally has always been good at running the football, and the ability for them to run the football has always set up their vertical pass game, and taking big shots and play-action,” Olson said. “So if we can effectively stop the run, that helps us from the standpoint of their play-action becomes less effective. So that for us will be a real key to the game from a defensive standpoint.”