Week two of college football saw its fair share of high-intensity moments and important outcomes, however, perhaps the most prominent result on Saturday occurred in South Bend, Ind. At 3:30 p.m., the number five team in the country, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, kicked off against unranked Northern Illinois University. What many expected to be a blowout and an easy win for the Irish turned into a nail-biting and shocking result, reminding us just how much we love college football.
Notre Dame struck first early in the game after former Duke Quarterback, Riley Leonard, took a designed run play 11 yards to the house. That lead, however, would not last very long as just a few minutes later, third-year Northern Illinois Quarterback, Ethan Hampton, fired a dart to Antario Brown for a shocking 83-yard score tying the game up at seven. That wouldn’t be the first time Brown beat the Irish defense: the senior running back finished the game with 126 receiving yards and 99 yards on the ground. Brown accounted for over half of NIU’s yards.
Trailing 13-7 entering the second half, the Fighting Irish covered 64 yards on six plays to retake the lead. The drive was capped off by a run from sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love who hurdled a defender and cruised into the end zone for a 35-yard touchdown. The 14-13 score in favor of the Irish would stay until the final seconds of the game when NIU’s kicker, Kanon Woodill, smashed a 35-yard field goal that shocked the sold-out crowd in South Bend and the rest of the nation. Overall, NIU won this game due to timely defensive stops, incredible production by their running backs and three field goals by Woodill. Perhaps the most ironic part about this entire game is that Notre Dame paid NIU 1.4 million dollars to play against them in South Bend.
So, what does this result mean for both teams?
With their win over Notre Dame, as well as the College Football playoff expanding to 12 teams, Northern Illinois, a team who entered this season coming off back-to-back 0-11 seasons, could find themselves in their first College Football playoff in program history. Meanwhile, for Notre Dame, the loss is heartbreaking, but not season-ending. The Fighting Irish are, however, at a disadvantage because they do not participate in a conference; but as Notre Dame wins the remainder of its games, fans will be able to breathe easy.