This is what college football is all about. The Northern Illinois Huskies had never beaten a top-10 opponent in the history of their college football program and on Saturday the MAC team was a four-touchdown underdog on the road in South Bend. That did not matter to head coach Thomas Hammock, who had every single player on the NIU sideline believing they could take down No. 5 Notre Dame and the Huskies did, winning 16-14, clinching the biggest upset in the school’s history by blocking a last-second field goal attempt.
NIU entered their matchup against the Fighting Irish 0-14 in their previous games against teams ranked in the top-10 nationally. After Kanon Woodill made his third field goal from 35 yards out that gave the Huskies a 16-14 lead, Northern’s defense held up in the final 30 seconds in the fourth quarter and forced Notre Dame into a 62-yard attempt.
Mitch Jeter had his second kick of the day blocked and Northern Illinois rushed onto the field in a frenzy.
An emotional Thomas Hammock could not hold back his tears in the postgame interview on the field and man was this awesome.
And how about the radio call for NIU.
Amazing. Congrats NIU. Go crazy DeKalb!