Take note: Division I-AA teams can play.

The Michigan football team learned that lesson last Saturday when Appalachian State shocked the Wolverines in the Big House.

Through experience, ISU coach Gene Chizik has known the talent level of the supposedly inferior division now known as the Football Championship Subdivision.

“I’ve been in I-AA football for a lot of years, had a lot of NFL guys come out of those leagues,” said Chizik, at D I-AA Stephen F. Austin for six years. “What people don’t understand is that they’ve got a lot of great talent. The difference is the number of scholarships, so usually it’s a depth issue.

“But when you talk about quarterbacks and tailbacks and offensive line – they won’t look any different. They’ll look as big and as pretty and as athletic as anybody we got on the field.”

Saturday night, the ISU football team must prove its superiority when seventh-ranked (according to the Football Championship Subdivision) Northern Iowa comes to Jack Trice Stadium. After a season-opening 23-14 loss to Kent State, the Cyclones come into the game searching for improvement and consistency on both sides of the ball, as well as their first win of the season.

Last season, the Panthers were one play away from their first win in the intrastate rivalry since 1994, but Panther kicker Brian Wingert missed a 51-yard kick as time expired.

A school-record crowd of 55,518 saw the Cyclones beat the Panthers, 28-27, despite a mistake-riddled performance. Senior quarterback Bret Meyer threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Jon Davis with 1:05 left in the fourth quarter.

Given last year’s performance and this year’s start, Meyer isn’t worrying about the mental preparedness of the team.

“We’re not going to take them lightly,” Meyer said. “There is no one in this locker room that’s going to do that. They’re a good team; they have a lot of good players, we know that, and we’ll have to play a good game to win.”

Northern Iowa beat Minnesota State, 41-14, in their first game of the season.

Senior quarterback Eric Sanders threw for 295 yards and a touchdown on 24 of 31 attempts, and running backs Darian Williams and Corey Lewis combined for 131 yards on 26 carries.

Iowa State, however, is coming off a loss in which a costly second-half interception and the inability to slow down option quarterback Julian Edelman and the rushing game were deciding factors.

Sanders, who has started in 31 games, also brings mobility to the position. Chizik said he sees many similarities between Edelman and Sanders.

“Really, really close. Really, really the same. Great escape ability, very impressive young man [Sanders]. It’ll be the same type of deal. Third downs, can we bring him down? If he’s scrambling, can we get tackles on guys?” Chizik said.

Senior linebacker Jon Banks, who had a team-high eight tackles last week, said Northern Iowa executes a well-balanced offense. He said a lot of people on the team talk about last year’s game.

“We ended up winning off a missed field goal, so this year we’re coming out, we’re going to be ready – on top of everything we got to do and just ball out from start to finish. No holding back at all,” Banks said.