Miner’s Cup: Winless Northern Michigan visits No. 14 Michigan Tech at noon Saturday, chasing its first rivalry win since 2009

HOUGHTON, Mich. — Northern Michigan carries an 0-6 record and a rivalry drought dating to 2009 into Houghton on Saturday, when the Wildcats play No. 14 Michigan Tech at noon for the Miner’s Cup.

The Huskies have won the last 15 meetings in the Upper Peninsula’s only college football rivalry, according to The Mining Journal. Northern last took the trophy in 2009, winning 48-16 in Houghton. Tech leads the series 20-3 since the trophy was introduced in 2002, though the schools have played for the Miner’s Cup since 1920. Last season, the Huskies won 56-17 at the Superior Dome in Marquette.

The teams arrive in very different shape. Tech is 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference after beating Grand Valley State, then ranked sixth in Division II, 41-35 in overtime last Saturday. Alex Bueno threw two touchdown passes and ran for another in that game, and the Huskies sealed it with a defensive stop on the Lakers’ overtime possession. Tech’s only loss came Sept. 12, 34-20 at No. 24 Emporia State.

Northern is 0-6 and 0-2 in the GLIAC and has not scored in two weeks, losing 42-0 at home to top-ranked Ferris State and 30-0 at No. 11 Davenport. Freshman quarterback Matt Stevens, in his college debut, drove the Wildcats from their own 25 to the Davenport 1 on the final drive before time ran out.

Running back Noah Dobert remains Northern’s steadiest weapon. He ran for 147 yards at Davenport and has 663 this season, second in the GLIAC at 110.5 per game, according to NMU. He set school single-season records last year with 1,656 yards and 15 touchdowns.

On the other side, senior linebacker Chase Koch leads the GLIAC with 65 tackles for Tech, NMU’s preview said.

“It’s exciting for me to go through this rivalry for the first time,” first-year Northern coach Matt Janus said in the school’s preview. “There’s a tremendous amount of pride on both sides, and I think it is what makes the rivalry so special.”

The game will be televised on WLUC-TV6 and carried on WUPT 100.3 FM The Point.

Sources:
Northern Michigan University Athletics, “PREVIEW: Miner’s Cup on the line in Houghton,” Oct. 14, 2026 (kickoff, broadcasts, Janus quote, Dobert and Koch statistics, series since 2002), https://nmuwildcats.com/news/2026/10/14/football-preview-miners-cup-on-the-line-in-houghton.aspx
The Mining Journal, Steve Brownlee, “Wildcats football plays at Tech for Miner’s Cup,” Oct. 15, 2026 (records, 15-game streak, 2009 score, recent results), https://www.miningjournal.net/sports/local-sports/2026/10/wildcats-football-plays-at-tech-for-miners-cup/
Photo: TheCatalyst31, “Sherman Field, Michigan Tech.jpg,” July 30, 2017, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), cropped and color-adjusted; derivative under the same license, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sherman_Field,_Michigan_Tech.jpg

Upper Peninsula

Tags: Upper Peninsula · Sports · College Football · Michigan Tech · Northern Michigan University · Miner’s Cup · GLIAC