By Bobby Narang
Twenty-one years after winning at Alabama, the Northern Illinois football team made national headlines again last Saturday.
The Huskies, who were picked to finish in the middle of the Mid-American Conference West Division by several national publications, pulled off a shocking 16-14 win over No. 5-ranked Notre Dame in South Bend.
The Huskies received a $1.4 million paycheck for the game, but showed they belonged on the same field as the Irish with a stellar game in all three phases in front of a sold-out crowd.
Northern Illinois coach Thomas Hammock, a star running back for the Huskies in the early 2000s, gushed with pride on Saturday afternoon. Hammock even shed a few tears in the postgame.
“I’m so proud of our kids and the coaches,” Hammock said. “They believed. They believed and we came here and got it done…All these guys that have been through the ups and downs and continue to fight. They’re my kids. I’m happy for the adversity to push through no matter the situation. I just could not be more proud.”
Northern Illinois quarterback Ethan Hampton, an Aurora native, was one of the stars in the upset. The Aurora Christian graduate was 10-for-19 for 198 yards and a touchdown to be named to the Davey O’Brien Award’s Great 8 for Week 2. Hampton tossed an 83-yard touchdown to Antario Brown earlier in the game.
“This is amazing,” Hampton said. “It’s my first time experiencing this as a starter. We’ve had some power-five wins before, but not against a ranked team much less a top-five team. Just like Coach said, it’s big for the program. It’s a surreal experience, something I’ll remember forever.
“We didn’t have to prove it to ourselves that we could win the game. We knew that in the locker room before we took the field. That early touchdown pass was huge, to score and even it up was the response that helped propel the game in the direction it went.”
The Northern Illinois Huskies (2-0), who will play host to Buffalo Saturday Sept. 21, seized a 16-14 lead on Kanon Woodill’s 35-yard field goal with 31 seconds left in regulation. Northern Illinois’ Cade Haberman blocked a potential game winning 62-yard attempt as time expired.
With the win, the Huskies earned a No. 25 ranking in Sunday’s Associated Press Top 25 poll and were named the Cheez-It National Team of the Week. The Huskies are ranked for the first time in 11 seasons, dating back to earning 24th in the AP Poll.
The victory over the Irish marked Northern Illinois’ first over an opponent ranked in the Top Five of a national poll.
Hammock said his players showed their heart in the victory by playing tough defense, following their game plan and battling throughout the tense game.
“I’m really proud of our players,” Hammock said. “I didn’t think we need luck; we just need to play our best. It wasn’t the cleanest for us but we played hard for four quarters. They worked together and stayed together, and believed. They made enough plays to win. I couldn’t be prouder of our coaches and staff, everybody involved. What an opportunity. This is a program-changing type win. We want to continue going forward as a program. Hopefully with a win like this, our supporters will start to back our program in a major, major way.
“We develop, we recruit, we find the right kind of kids that want to work and grind. They’re not affected by outside things. We built a great culture here, a family atmosphere. Our guys love coming into the building. We love being around them. When you do it step by step, and don’t take any shortcuts, things like this are possible.”