Northern Illinois shocks No. 5 Notre Dame in the “biggest upset” in school history

CNN
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The Northern Illinois Huskies shocked No. 5 Notre Dame with a dramatic upset win at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday.

Kanon Woodill’s 35-yard field goal with 31 seconds left gave the Huskies a late two-point lead before Cade Haberman blocked Notre Dame’s attempted 62-yard field goal to secure the 16-14 victory.

For Northern Illinois, it is the first ever win against a top-five opponent and the NBC commentary team called it the “biggest upset” in the school’s history.

“I’m so proud of the kids, our coaches, everybody, they believed in us,” an emotional Huskies head coach Thomas Hammock told NBC afterward. “They believed in us and we came here and did it.”

“They listened to me. I told them all week, ‘We don’t need luck, we just need to do our best.’ And today they did their best.”

The Fighting Irish took the lead on Saturday, but the Huskies responded in impressive fashion with an 83-yard touchdown pass from Ethan Hampton to Antario Brown and two field goals from Woodill that gave them a six-point lead.

A 34-yard touchdown run by Jeremiyah Love gave Notre Dame a one-point lead midway through the third quarter.

And when Northern Illinois was trailing with just under six minutes left in the game, it got the ball back when Amariyun Knighten intercepted a pass from Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard and returned it 30 yards to the Notre Dame 50-yard line.

The team stormed down the field, managing two third and one fourth down attempts, until they reached the Fighting Irish 19-yard line.

Woodill successfully converted the field goal, his third of the afternoon, leaving Notre Dame with just seconds to attempt a comeback.

They managed to reach the Northern Illinois 44-yard line before the drive stalled, leaving them with just five seconds on the clock and a 62-yard field goal attempt.

But Haberman managed to block Notre Dame’s Mitch Jeter’s attempt, his second block of the day, which led to wild celebrations as Northern Illinois players and coaches streamed onto the field.

This is the first victory by a Mid-American Conference team over a team ranked in the top five by the Associated Press.

Hammock then talked about why the win was so special to him.

“All of these guys that have been in our program have been through ups and downs and they continue to fight,” he said, his voice shaking with emotion. “It’s like they’re my kids! I’m happy to fight through adversity no matter what the situation is and I just couldn’t be more proud.”