Michigan Tech wide receiver Nic Nora turns a corner with the ball during a game against Bemidji State Thursday, Aug. 28, at Kearly Stadium in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — Michigan Tech Huskies football coach Dan Mettlach is not always sure which version of the Huskies will come out of a bye week, the one ready to play, or the one that takes time to get warmed up.

Saturday, the Huskies raced out to a quick 7-0 lead against Wayne State on the road, and had a chance to expand that lead, only to see the Warriors score 21 of the next 28 points.

“It was exactly the start were looking for,” he said. “Score on the first drive, got a turnover on the very first play of defense, and the sequence in the next offensive possession didn’t go how we wanted to. You have a drop on first down, that gets you into first and goal inside the 10. Then we put the ball on the ground ourselves, ended up covering it, but just a bad stretch offensively. That next drive, that could have really put them in a bad spot had we gone up 14-0 at that point.

“Then you take the very next defensive possession, and we got them in third and 10, take a bad personal foul on the ‘Q’ (quarterback) in the very next play, they’re at midfield, and run their gadget and score. So, what could have been a 14-0 potential start turned into seven and then you throw pick-six two plays later.”

Mettlach wants his team to learn how to, when they have an opponent down, keep their collective foot on the gas pedal.

“We just didn’t step on the throat when we had a chance, and then were in a battle for a quarter,” he said. “So, love the response at the beginning of the second quarter to take a two-score lead going into the half. Everything was good from that standpoint, but we just have to be better. When we get opportunities to jump on somebody, we have to take advantage of it.”

After the first quarter, the Huskies (4-1 overall, 1-0 GLIAC) only gave up three points, and none in the second half, for the third time this season. Yet, Mettlach still feels like there is room for growth.

“They were good on Saturday, to be honest,” he said. “They ended with 199 yards of total ‘O’ (offense). When you go back and look at the yards that came after the two bad penalties, we’re talking about an entire game of being between 100 and 120 yards of total ‘O.’ I thought we played really well on that side of the football.

“Having said that, the discipline needs to pick up in terms of, whether it be the eyes on the back end on trick plays, keeping everything in front of us, or not taking bad penalties when we’ve got them in third and long situations and getting them back on the sticks where you take a very good performance, make it a dominant performance if you don’t give them some of those plays.”

Offensively, the Huskies got strong performances out of a group of redshirt sophomores in quarterback Alex Bueno, and wide receivers Nic Nora, Bryce Kurncz, and Ethan Hull. Bueno went 18-of-28 through the air for 236 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. Nora had five catches for 96 yards and two touchdowns. Kurncz had two catches for 55 yards and a touchdown. Hull had two catches for 42 yards.

Knowing that the Huskies have multiple years of eligibility left with all four is exciting, but at the same time, Mettlach continues to push all four to improve.

“I’m not looking ahead yet,” Mettlach said. “Obviously, knowing that we have them for a couple more years is a great thing. At the same time, the stuff that we need them to grow up on now needs to happen sooner rather than later. You don’t want to get to the end of the year after one game, two games, whatever it is, and say, ‘Well, we’ll go be better in two years from now.’ It’s got to start happening now. Then, when you start looking at the future, they’re going to be that much further along.”

Mettlach admits that coaching the younger players is a bit of a tightrope because they will make mistakes, but if they grow from those mistakes, they will be better for the experience.

“You go back and forth on it from the coaching side of it saying we need X, Y and Z to happen, and be executed better, at the same time,” he said. “They are all still young. That’s a little bit on our side of it, of understanding that they’re young, and they’re going to make mistakes, to where we just need to coach them up rather than, probably, jump down their throat at times.

“The mistakes are going to happen. The mistakes just can’t be big mistakes to where we’re getting beat because of it. But, two, three years from now, you’d like to think they’re going to be better. I like what they’re doing right now, and it needs to happen now rather than two years from now.”

Scouting the Panthers

This weekend, the Huskies remain on the road, traveling to face the Davenport Panthers. The Panthers come into Saturday 2-2 on the season and 1-1 in GLIAC play. They are fresh off a 37-14 loss to No. 10 Grand Valley State.

Offensively, the Panthers are paced by fifth-year quarterback D’Wan Mathis, who is 47-of-77 through the air for 658 yards and three touchdowns. He is also dynamic on the ground, having carried the ball 33 times for 136 yards.

Redshirt junior wide receiver Keonta Nixon has 10 catches for 144 yards and one touchdown. Redshirt junior wide receiver George Sims has eight catches for 136 yards.

The ground game is driven by junior running back Cephus Harris, who has 63 carries for 459 yards and eight touchdowns. He has also been used effectively in the passing game, with nine catches for 105 yards.

Game time

The Huskies and Panthers are set to do battle Saturday at 1 p.m. at Farmers Insurance Athletic Complex in Caledonia, Michigan.