While this weekend’s game might seem like just an ordinary nonconference game, there are a lot of major headlines about the game, perhaps the biggest being that Kirk Ferentz will become the Iowa’s head coach with the most career wins with a victory.

That may mean a lot to Hawkeye fans, but inside the locker room, it’s tough to tell that anything other than win No. 1 on the season will be at stake Saturday.

“We’re really not focused on [the record],” Nick Easley said. “He doesn’t talk about it at all.”

Teammate Keegan Render echoed that.

“I know it’s a big and significant thing,” he said. “But for us, it’s about getting to 1-0.”

Ferentz didn’t even want to talk about it at his press conference on Tuesday; when asked about the possibility of passing Hayden Fry, he said simply, “I really don’t want to talk too much about that right now.”

What he did talk about, however, was the Hawkeyes’ upcoming matchup against the Huskies, and one of the biggest challenges they face is in the form of Northern Illinois’ defensive end Sutton Smith.

Smith was a menace on defense last year, leading the nation in tackles for loss (29.5) and sacks (14).

“He’s a very disruptive player,” Ferentz said. “If you’re going to game plan, you’d better start right there and have an understanding of what challenges he presents and then, hopefully, have some answers for it.”

Unfortunately for the Hawkeyes, some of those answers are going to have to come in the form of backup linemen.

Starters Tristen Wirfs and Alaric Jackson are suspended for the game, which means Mark Kallenberger and Dalton Ferguson will  protect Nate Stanley in their place.

Although the Huskie defensive line will be a formidable challenge, Kallenberger and Ferguson have had their share of challenges on the practice field.

“I told our guys, you’ve been practicing against some pretty good guys, too,” Ferentz said. “With [Parker] Hesse and [Anthony] Nelson. At least they’re going against good guys in practice on a daily basis.”

On the other side of the ball, Iowa will have to work to shut down Huskie sophomore quarterback Marcus Childers.

He racked up an impressive freshman campaign in which he threw for 1,674 yards, 16 touchdowns, and only 5 picks, while also rushing for 473 yards and 5 touchdowns. He will certainly be a tough challenge for the Hawkeye defense, but the plan to stop him is pretty simple.

“We can’t beat ourselves,” cornerback  Matt Hankins said. “We have to make him beat us. We have got to contain him when he drops back to throw, and in the passing game, we have got to have him covered.”

Along with the game and the possible record-breaking win for Ferentz, the contest will also be the first time for fans to see the construction in the north end zone.

Ferentz seems more excited at the prospect of fans seeing the new north end zone than he does about the possibility of breaking Fry’s record.

“Oh, I think it’s awesome.” Ferentz said. “Seeing it on video was like wow, that looks really — it’s imposing. I can’t wait to see fans in it … Hopefully, we’re going to make the fans be loud and not sit on their hands.”