Iowa State will open its second season under coach Paul Rhoads under the lights Thursday night against Northern Illinois.

Coming off of an Insight Bowl victory in Rhoads’ first season, the Cyclones are carrying momentum from a 7-6 2009 season into facing one of the nation’s toughest schedules.

“[The team] embraces the challenge that is our 2010 football schedule beginning with a very, very good Northern Illinois football team that most predict to win the MAC conference,” Rhoads said Monday.

The Huskies have made two consecutive bowl appearances under third-year coach Jerry Kill, including a loss to South Florida in the International Bowl that capped off a 7-6 season. Kill’s first two seasons are the first time Northern Illinois has been to back-to-back bowl games since it joined the NCAA’s Division I in 1969.

“They are solid in every phase,” Rhoads said. “They have a defense that flies around the field and pursues with great intensity to the ball, they have an offense that physically wears opponents out.”

Northern Illinois’ offense finished 19th in Division I in rushing offense last season at 195.15 yards per game.

The Huskies’ top two backs each averaged more than four yards per carry in an offense that Rhoads described as physical.

Rhoads said Northern Illinois’ primary run play — the Power O — features the fullback and a guard on the offensive line lead blocking for the tailback.

“I’ve defended a lot of football teams,” Rhoads said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a team that runs [the Power O] more ways than they do.”

Headlining the NIU running game is senior running back Chad Spann.

The 5-foot-9-inch Indianapolis native led the way for the Huskies in 2009, carrying the ball for 1,038 yards and 19 touchdowns. Spann’s 19 touchdowns were good for fifth-best in the nation in 2009.

“The running back is a good player,” Rhoads said. “He can make you miss.”

ISU senior defensive end Rashawn Parker said Spann’s quickness and lateral movement — Parker referred to Spann as “shifty” — make him hard to bring down.

“He’s a good back,” Parker said. “We’re going to have to swarm and punish him and get to him as much as possible. We’re going to have to make sure we keep an eye on him for the whole game.”

To stop NIU’s ground attack, Rhoads said the defense will try to put as many players near the line of scrimmage as possible in potential running situations.

With too many bodies near the line of scrimmage, though, the defense may vacate passing lanes that could lead to big plays.

“You try to sneak 12 bodies onto the field as many times as you can, if you can get away with it,” Rhoads said jokingly.

Even with the success of Spann and the NIU rushing attack, the passing offense in DeKalb, Ill., was 109th in the nation in 2009.

2009 leading passer Chandler Harnish and the 1,670 yards and 11 touchdowns he accounted for through the air are co-listed at No. 1 on the depth chart with DeMarcus Grady.

Grady is a dual-threat quarterback who ran for 330 yards while also passing for 280 yards last season.

Grady accounted for three total touchdowns.

“They have a quarterback that is similar to ours, a run and pass threat,” Rhoads said. “Anytime you do that, it forces you to defend an extra gap when you’ve got a quarterback that can run the football.”

On the defensive side of the ball, Northern Illinois returns eight starters on a defense that was 30th in the country in points allowed, a potential problem for an ISU offense that scored 20.5 points per game.

“Defensively, they run extremely well,” Rhoads said. “They run from sideline to sideline. You’re not going to get any cheap plays on them, they’re very disciplined.”

For Iowa State, the key may be scoring early.

The Cyclones were 4-2 in games in which they scored first, including wins against Colorado and Nebraska.

Iowa State was 7-1 when it led at halftime.

“If we don’t score on them and get out on them early, they’re going to hang around,” Arnaud said. “We don’t want them to hang around, so we want to try and score points and put them away.”

Arnaud will have more available weapons than ever before, with receivers Sedrick Johnson, Darius Darks and Jake Williams all coming back in 2010.

The top returning performer at Arnaud’s side, though, will be senior running back Alexander Robinson.

The Minneapolis native rushed for 1,195 yards in 2009, but will be challenged by an NIU defense that allowed 124.77 yards per game, 35th in the country.

“They’re fast, they’re athletic and they don’t make a lot of mistakes,” Robinson said. “They’re very sound in what they do, so we’re going to have to be sound in what we do and execute well.”

Most importantly for Iowa State, though, will be starting the season fast on both sides of the ball.

In seven of the last eight seasons, the Cyclones have gotten a win in their opening game.

“Starting 1-0 adds to the credibility of what you’ve been doing for 29 practice opportunities,” Rhoads said. “You open up room for people scratching their head by not winning and finding early season success.”

Rhoads said a loss in game No. 1 would not make or break the season.

However, starting the season 0-1 with the tough schedule ahead — No. 9 Iowa next week, back-to-back road games with No. 3 Texas and No. 7 Oklahoma, No. 8 Nebraska waiting in late October — is a possibility against a talented team like Northern Illinois.

“There are no weak spots,” Rhoads said. “This is a very, very sound football program and we’re going to have to play exceptionally well to have a chance to win the football game.”

Despite the strength of the schedule early in the season, Rhoads said there has been no consideration of lightening the non-conference load for future season openers.

No matter who his team plays on week one, be it Northern Illinois or North Dakota State, 2009’s season-opening opponent, Rhoads said his Cyclones will be ready for week one.

“We’ve got to be ready to play,” Rhoads said. “We’re excited about that challenge. They’re a good football team and we’re going to find out what we are come Thursday, as well.”