North Coast Athletic Conference coaches picked the 10th-ranked Wabash football team to win the conference. If the last two weeks are any indication, the coaches were right. After a disappointing second half in a win against Wooster, the Little Giants dominated their next two road victories at Ohio Wesleyan and Kenyon. They will look to continue their roll Saturday in their return home against Oberlin.

"Early in the season, we had some peaks and valleys," Coach Erik Raeburn said. "We just can't have the ups and downs. The good teams are consistent — that's every day in practice, and obviously that's the case on Saturdays as well."

The Little Giants (6-0, 5-0 NCAC) have been in a "valley" against the Yeomen in recent matchups. Wabash won on the road last year despite inconsistent play. In the last Oberlin (2-4, 2-3 NCAC) visit to Crawfordsville, the Little Giants committed four turnovers as the Yeomen left with a 31-16 victory that eliminated Wabash from the postseason.

"A lot of our (current) guys played in that game," Raeburn said. "They know if we don't have a great week in practice, they'll beat us. We have a pretty veteran group so hopefully it's experienced enough to know you have to your best every week."

Wabash was not at its best in a 27-10 victory last year at Oberlin. A handful of red zone mishaps kept the Little Giants from putting the game away.

"We didn't play well offensively," Raeburn said. "We moved the ball, but squandered a couple of opportunities — it was really windy and Ian MacDougall missed his only two field goals of the season. In total, we had four opportunities down in the red zone, inside the 10-yard line, and came away with zero points."

The Little Giants struggled to field a healthy team for the game. Raeburn said 47 players missed practice or the game that week.

"Last year was the 'flu week,'" he said. "Grant Klembara was sick as a dog all day Friday and didn't think he was going to be able to play, and somehow he goes out there and sucks it up."

The Klembara version of a flu game resulted in 106 yards on 17 carries. Saturday, Klembara will line up at linebacker instead of running back. He and the rest of the Wabash defense will face a high-flying attack.

"They still play the tight end and full back, but seem to be getting into spread more this year than in years past," Raeburn said. "Their quarterback is playing well. I think because of their personnel, they're spreading it out more than they have in the past."

The Yeomen are averaging 42 points in their wins. Big-play sophomore receiver Justin Cruz is the focal point of Oberlin's offense. His 32 receptions on the year are almost three times as many as the next closest pass catcher on the team. He also has seven touchdowns and 568 receiving yards on the year. In last week's win over Allegheny, Cruz caught 14 passes for a school-record 242 yards and three touchdowns to earn NCAC Offensive Football Player of the Week and D3football.com Team of the Week honors.

Despite Cruz's impressive individual numbers, the Little Giant defense is keeping its attention on the Yeoman offense as a whole.

"We play a lot of zone coverage so there aren't any big matchups," cornerback Delon Pettiford said. "Instead of focusing on one-on-one matchups, we're focusing as a team to not give up anything deep."

If Wabash wants to live with allowing the Oberlin to complete underneath passes, the defense must fly to the ball and make open-field tackles. Pettiford said it can also use the boundary as a 12th defender.

"(Cruz) is pretty shifty in the open field, but we have to go 'inside out' to force him to the sideline," he said.

Kickoff will be Saturday at 1 p.m. in Hollett Little Giant Stadium.