Hello again Huskies! I hope everyone's summer is going well, and I hope you've all been able to enjoy the outdoors these past few months while dodging the heat domes, wildfire smoke, and dastardly, blind-spot hiding, car-totaling deer of the UP at dusk. While I try to not think about the fact that we've already reached late August and desperately avoid saying the slogan of a certain massive and incredibly disappointing fantasy TV show, I figured it was probably about time to start looking ahead to the Huskies athletics seasons. Of the three sports I spend the majority of my time obsessing over, the football team kicks their season off first, this year with an away game against Bemidji State on August 27th. Since we're now just over a week away from kickoff, let's get back into the sports mood and take a look at the season ahead for MTU football.
2025 Season Recap: 7-4 (4-3 GLIAC), T-4th in GLIAC Standings
Coming into last season, MTU was picked to finish fifth in the GLIAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, placing the Huskies behind Ferris State, Grand Valley State, Saginaw Valley State, and Davenport. Despite this low ranking, the Huskies got off to a blazing hot start in their non-conference schedule, going 3-0 in the first three weeks with a stunning 37-17 win over then-ranked No. 16 Bemidji State. Sophomore quarterback Alex Bueno was lighting up defenses as a dual threat player, racking up over 300 combined yards and 3 touchdowns in the week one Bemidji State game, and six more touchdowns over the next two games against South Dakota Mines and Hillsdale. However, the last non-conference game against Upper Iowa wound up being a tough loss, as the Peacocks managed to stifle the red-hot Huskies offense and win the game 21-14.
After a bye week following their tough loss, the 3-1 Huskies went on a two-game road stretch to take on Wayne State and Davenport. After dispatching the Warriors 48-24, the Huskies pulled off a GLIAC upset, managing to take down the Davenport Panthers in a 16-14 battle. Then, the Huskies came home to take on consensus No. 1 Ferris State, where the Bulldogs won 38-10. Now sitting at 5-2, MTU went back on the road to face Northern Michigan in the Miner's Cup, where true freshman quarterback Elliott Larner had a game for the ages, tallying 92 passing yards, 172 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns (seeing this game in-person in Marquette was an absolute blast). After a 56-17 romp of the Wildcats, the Huskies headed to Chicago and took down bottom-ranked Roosevelt, scoring 56 points in back-to-back weeks with Larner again shining, finishing with just less than 300 combined yards.
With a 7-2 record, Michigan Tech football was firmly in the conversation for a spot in the Division II Playoffs, but they had two tough games ahead of them with No. 23 Grand Valley State and Saginaw Valley State. The Huskies first went to Allendale to take on the Lakers where a returning Alex Bueno just barely wasn't enough to get the Huskies over the hump, dropping the game 15-18. For the regular season finale, MTU returned home to face the Cardinals and lost another close game, 21-24. The Huskies missed the cut for the DII playoffs, and finished tied for fourth place in the GLIAC standings with Davenport, but holding the tiebreaker due to the head-to-head win.
Key Players
As 2025 GLIAC Coach of the Year Dan Mettlach enters his fourth year as the Michigan Tech head coach, he seems to have his most talented roster yet. MTU has retained both Alex Bueno and Elliott Larner, the two quarterbacks who had significant playing time last season. Bueno is a year older and seemed to be the more consistent passing threat last season, so I would expect he will likely be the starter for early part of the season. However, Larner showed so much promise as a mobile QB last season that I would expect him to play a sizeable role in the offense, either splitting time with Bueno in run-first situations or possibly as a Taysom Hill-esque utility player in trick plays, which Mettlach called quite often last season. Senior running back Jake Rueff also returns after tallying over 600 yards and 4 rushing TDs last season. Slot receiver Nic Nora led the team in receiving yards and touchdowns last season, and junior Bryce Kurncz will likely become the main outside receiver to replace graduating wideout/trick play QB Ethan Champney. Offensive line highlights include senior Brandon DeVries, who was just named to the D2Football.com Elite 100 Watch List, and Rowland Ball, who made a touchdown-earning play against Bemidji State in last year's season opener, as shown in a Jomboy Media Things You Missed segment.
On defense, the main losses from last year's roster was senior defensive back Dante Basanese (DB), Connor Hindenach (DE) and Porter Zeeman (LB). However, many other starting defenders are returning, including linebacker Chase Koch, who led the team with an astounding 106 tackles and caught two interceptions last year. Returning defensive backs Dakota Blackwell, Jaiden Bolden, and Terrence Martin will likely see significant playing time again this season, while Nolan Schopp and Pierce Miller hold down a defensive line that lost last season's sack leader to graduation. On special teams, kicker Avery Kucharski returns after a solid year in 2025.
Michigan Tech also brought in a class of 42 players on National Signing Day this year, though it's tough to say how much of an impact these players will have on this year's roster.
2026 Season Outlook
The complete Huskies regular season schedule can be found here, including times, locations, and streaming options (when applicable).
Nationally, MTU is getting some attention but isn't seen as a powerhouse. In the AFCA DII Preseason Poll, the Huskies are unranked but receiving votes. By this poll they are considered to be the third best team in the GLIAC; GVSU is tied for 9th while Ferris State is unsurprisingly the consensus No. 1 team in the nation. Davenport and non-conference opponent Upper Iowa are also receiving votes in the poll, but Michigan Tech got significantly more than both schools.
In the GLIAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, the Huskies were picked to finish in third, trailing Ferris State and Grand Valley State. Based on the games I saw last season, I think this is a pretty good guess as to how the season will shake out. For a long time in the GLIAC, there's been a very clear divide in level of competition: Ferris State and Grand Valley State are the top two teams, and the rest are fighting for third. Ferris State is on a 30-game win streak and they've won back-to-back national titles, I would look like an idiot if I predicted anyone else would win the conference. GVSU, on the other hand, had a comparatively rough season in 2025, getting upset by Saginaw Valley State and losing a non-conference game to Pittsburgh State, on top of their loss to the Bulldogs. As a result, they missed the DII playoffs entirely, losing their spot to the likes of Truman State and Northwood. If the Lakers are unable to correct course early this year, their matchup against the Huskies in Houghton on October 10th will be the most important game of the year for Michigan Tech. If they can clean up the rest of the conference (besides FSU) as they're projected to and they manage to win the GVSU game, a spot in the playoffs is absolutely in the mix.
Conclusion/Where to Watch
This season of MTU football shows more promise than I can remember seeing in the past few years as a student. The defense remains a bit of a question since a lot of our top players graduated last year, but the offense should be in great shape. The expectations for this team are quickly becoming very real, and Coach Mettlach and his roster will have a tough season ahead to meet them. If a couple of big games go the right way this team may make the national playoffs, but anything can happen in football.
If you're a Michigan Tech student, you can get into any MTU game (including hockey!) with your HuskyCard as part of the Experience Tech fee on your bill. All other attendees need to purchase a ticket at the ticket office in the SDC or online at https://www.buyhuskiestickets.com. If you'd like to watch the Huskies from home, all GLIAC sports (basically everything but hockey) can be streamed on FloCollege, but be aware this is a paid service even for students. MTU football's first home game is against Midwestern State on Saturday, September 5th at noon. I hope to see you all there!
____________________
Notes:
Before things get going once again this year, I just wanted to say getting to chat with you all has been a bright spot in my time at Michigan Tech. It definitely helped that the teams I covered last season had pretty great years, but getting a chance to see discussion around these teams outside of the SDC and hopefully getting some more sports-shy Huskies to check out our teams in the weeks between exam panic sessions made quite a few nights for me. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. I hope over the next year you keep enjoying MTU sports and talking with me and the other people who stumble onto these posts.
Also, I wanted to make a quick disclaimer regarding my posts here. I know a massive post of just text and a couple of links rings alarm bells in some heads, including my own, so I want to make sure people don't see my write-ups and think Claude is secretly your resident wannabe sports writer. Nothing I post under any circumstances will be AI-generated, and I will never cite materials that I know to be AI-generated. It increasingly feels like nothing can really bring people together, but I think talking about sports is one of the things that still gives us a chance to build that bridge. In an ideal world it's by people and for people, and as long as I'm doing this I'll make sure it stays that way on my end.
