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The No. 5-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish (1-1) held their home opener against the Northern Illinois Huskies (2-0), on Sept. 7 in South Bend, Ind. The Irish disappointed many today with their showing despite putting up an electric performance at Kyle Field against Texas A&M last weekend. Northern Illinois pulled off a shocking road upset at Notre Dame Stadium, 16-14.
Game Summary
The Irish fell asleep at the wheel. After Notre Dame started the game with an 11-yard touchdown rush by quarterback Riley Leonard, NIU responded with an 83-yard touchdown pass from Ethan Hampton to Antario Brown. Antario Brown was the star of the show against the Irish. Brown racked up 225 yards from scrimmage, and despite being a running back, he also tallied 126 yards receiving on 2 receptions.
Leonard missed multiple throws and made several bad decisions against the Huskies. Notre Dame's defense continued to give the Irish a shot to win, but the offense could not seal the deal. Leonard's performance was a complete 180 from last week. He finished 20-of-32 with 163 yards passing and 2 interceptions. Leonard did add a rushing touchdown. The Huskies continued to stick to their identity with a plethora of misdirection-based run plays, such as jet sweeps, fake jet sweeps, screens and play-action rollouts. NIU head coach Thomas Hammock and Hampton put on a masterclass today.
Turning Point for the Huskies
Outside of Jeremiyah Love's electric 34-yard touchdown rush, where he hurdled a defender, Northern Illinois controlled the pace of the game in South Bend. This is shocking, considering the Irish's performance in the trenches last weekend against Texas A&M. If you had to pinpoint a momentum shift, it was NIU's late-game interception. Despite needing 1 yard on second down to convert a first down, Leonard forced a pass over the middle into double coverage. Amariyun Knighten picked off a pass as if he was catching a punt and returned it to midfield. This allowed NIU to drive down and kick the game-winning 35-yard field goal.
It needs to be mentioned how controversial the spot was for NIU on a third-and-short-run attempt. The camera seemed to imply they got the first down, but the ref spotted it shockingly short. After reviewing it, the officials deemed there wasn't enough evidence to overturn it. Hammock might not have realized that the clock would be turned back on for the field goal attempt unless Notre Dame used their timeout. Irish head coach Marcus Freeman seemed to have played a game of chicken with the clock, and NIU snapped it immediately, giving Notre Dame their timeout for the final drive with 30 seconds remaining. Nonetheless, NIU's defense still stood tall. Notre Dame missed a game-winning 62-yard field goal attempt.
What It Means for Each Team
For the Huskies, this means a 2-0 start. At this point, NIU may be the front-runner in the College Football Playoff for the 12th seed. NIU is not a Power Four school as they compete in the Mid-American Conference. Their resume stacks up better than any Group of 5 schools. If they continue this trend behind Hampton's elite decision-making, we might see them as the non-Power 4 school in the playoff. However, it is a long season.
As far as the Irish are concerned, their backs are against the wall. This might not mathematically eliminate them from playoff contention. However, Notre Dame's loss to NIU and not being in a conference means they have to build a resume good enough to make it as an at-large bid. You never know what could happen going forward, but this is an inexcusable loss for the Freeman era.
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On the winning field goal NIU did not snap it immediately. Refs didn’t start the clock as they should have. Watch the replay. The play clock was running, the game clock was not.