Huskies Stun Fifth-Ranked Notre Dame in South Bend

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Kanon Woodill’s (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) 35-yard field goal with 31 seconds left lifted the Northern Illinois University Huskies to a 16-14 victory over fifth-ranked Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon (Sept. 7) at Notre Dame Stadium.
 
Antario Brown (Savannah, Ga./Beach) gained 225 total yards (126 receiving and 99 rushing) with a touchdown and Ethan Hampton (Elburn, Ill./Aurora Christian) was 10-of-19 passing for 198 yards and a touchdown as the victory over the Fighting Irish marked the Huskies’ first win over a Top Five opponent. It is also the first win by any Mid-American Conference team over a team ranked in the Associated Press Top Five.
 
The win marked NIU’s 19th “Boneyard” victory, wins over power conference and ranked programs, since 1983, and the third for NIU head coach Thomas Hammock in the past four seasons.
 
“I’m so proud of the kids, our coaches, everybody, they believed,” NIU head coach Thomas Hammock said to NBC postgame. “They believed and we came here and got it done. They listened to what I said, I told them all week, ‘we don’t need luck, we just need to be our best,’ and they were their best today.”
 
Trailing 14-13, Amariyun Knighten (Hollywood, Fla./Stranahan) picked off Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard, returning the turnover to midfield with 5:55 left in the fourth quarter.
 
NIU methodically moved down to the Notre Dame 19, picking up a pair of third downs on the drive, with Hampton running for a first down on fourth and two from the 31. Three Gavin Williams (Altoona, Iowa/Dowling Catholic/Iowa) then set up the 35-yard field goal attempt for Woodill in the final minute. The senior from Plainfield, Ill., split the uprights with the kick from the right hash to give the Huskies a 16-14 lead.
 
Notre Dame drove to the NIU 44 on the final drive before lining up a 62-yard field goal attempt with five seconds remaining. For the second time in the contest, Cade Haberman (Blair, Neb./Westside) blocked the kick, which was recovered by Jaden Dolphin (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West), as time ran out, sending the Huskie fans and their sizeable traveling fanbase into delirium.
 
The Huskies outgained the Fighting Irish, 388-286, in the contest as the NIU offense was extremely balanced, rushing for 190 yards while gaining 198 passing. NIU held Notre Dame to just 123 rushing yards and intercepted Leonard twice in the game.
 
Notre Dame took the opening kickoff and went 75 yards in 13 plays, capped by an 11-yard touchdown run from Leonard to give the Irish the early lead.
 
A bad bounce on the ensuing kickoff pinned the Huskies back to their own 2-yard line, but it took NIU just five plays to answer the Notre Dame touchdown drive. Hampton hit Brown on a slant and the Huskie running back broke a tackle and raced 83 yards for the score to tie the game at seven with 5:35 to play in the first quarter. The play tied for the eighth-longest passing play in school history and the longest since 2008.
 
NIU took the lead on its next drive as a 28-yard carry from Brown put the Huskies in field goal range. Four plays later, Woodill connected from 42 yards to give NIU a 10-7 lead just over two minutes left in the opening quarter.
 
After an interception from Christian Fuhrman (Mesa, Ariz./Queen Creek/SEMO), the Huskies scored for the third drive in a row to start the game. Hampton hit Brown for 43 yards on the first play of the drive to move NIU to the Notre Dame 12. The Huskies moved to the Fighting Irish four-yard line but settled for a 21-yard field goal from Woodill as the NIU lead grew to 13-7.
 
Brown’s 126 receiving yards marked the first 100-yard receiving game by a Huskie running back since Garrett Wolfe recorded 114 receiving yards on Sept. 2, 2006, at Ohio State.
 
On the final play of the first half, Haberman made the first of his two field goal blocks on the day as the Huskies took a six-point lead into halftime. The block was the first by a Huskie since Devonte O’Malley (Midlothian, Ill./Bremen) blocked a field goal against Georgia Tech on Sept. 4, 2021.
 
Brown finished the first half with 199 yards of total offense, 126 receiving and 73 rushing.
 
“I think he is one of the best backs in the country,” said Hammock. “He is one of the best backs in the country if he wants to be. Did I believe he could have a game like this? I did. And we were going to plan it that way. He was cramping up in the second half and we didn’t use him a lot, but I said, ‘you did more than enough to help us be in position to win the game.'”
 
Notre Dame forced a Huskie punt on the first drive of the second half and then drove 64 yards in six plays, capped by a 34-yard touchdown run by Jeremiyah Love, as the Irish regained the lead, 14-13, with 8:34 to play in the third quarter.
 
The hosts maintained that 14-13 advantage as they got the football with 7:49 left in the fourth. Notre Dame moved from its own 25 to midfield before Leonard’s second interception of the day gave the ball back to NIU with under six minutes to play, setting up the game’s dramatic final minutes.
 
Fuhrman finished with a team-high nine tackles, Dolphin recorded eight stops while O’Malley had a pair of sacks and three tackles for loss in the victory.
 
NIU (2-0) will have a bye next week before returning home on Saturday, Sept. 21, as the Huskies host Buffalo in their Mid-American Conference opener.
 
— NIU —
 
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