Jets coach Jake Buchholtz reminded his team earlier this week that these types of games matter just a little bit more.
“These are the ones that you want and are the games that we work all off-season and in-season for,” Buchholtz said. “To get an opportunity to go play on the road against another 5-0 team that we know has a good quarterback, good coaching and is a historically really good program, we’re excited.”
The Jets are off to their best start since finishing a perfect 10-0 in 2022. They’ve outscored their opponents 211-56.
They’re led by a strong group of seniors including quarterback Diezel Taylor, running backs Cody Houseman and Jackson Jones and wide receivers Jacoby Newman and Kaleb Moone.
Newman and Taylor each set school records last week in the Jets’ 60-18 victory over Madison Plains. Newman caught eight passes for 277 yards - both school records - while Taylor set a new school record with seven TD passes. Houseman had back-to-back 200-yard rushing performances to open the season against Urbana and Riverside.
“They’ve all done a good job at just understanding it might not be your night and it’s going to be somebody else’s, and that’s okay, and you just got to be a good teammate,” Buchholtz said. “We do have a lot of weapons and we’ve just got to find the hot hand on a given Friday.”
The Jets have won three straight games against the Roughriders, including a 40-13 victory last season at Kile Field. They’ll travel to Madison County again this season due to crossover scheduling restrictions.
“It’s a great football town,” Buchholtz said. “West Jefferson football has been pretty rich historically there, they’ve got a really nice stadium and it’s a cool place to go play. I think our guys are excited for it.
“They have a ton of support for their football program out there, so we know the crowd’s gonna be crazy. We have good support for our guys, too. It’s going to be a great Friday night.”
They’re led by senior quarterback Austin Buescher, who leads the OHC in passing yards (1,685) and passing TDs (18). He’s averaging more than 37 pass attempts per game.
“We know what they want to do,” Buchholtz said. “(Buescher) is a great quarterback. He wants to sit back there and throw the ball so we have to kind of create pressure this week, and that’s something I’ve challenged our guys on. We have to get after him and if we can get him out of the pocket and on the move, that increases our chances for good things.
“They have great receivers all over the field,” Buchholtz said. “If you can get to the quarterback quick, then it increases our chances for good things to happen.”
Northeastern enters the second half of the season with a healthy roster, which is crucial in the always tough OHC North Division.
“The goal of the first half is obviously to come out winning games, but it’s to be healthy because you know what you’re going to get in that back half,” Buchholtz said. “The back half of our season is what makes our conference so good. Every year, in my opinion, there’s four teams at minimum that are eyeing to win the title and some years it’s five. You get teams that beat up on each other and so coming into this this week, going into the divisional games, it is about who’s healthy and how you can stay healthy over this time.”
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