NIU Football Postgame Notes & Quotes vs. Notre Dame

Football | September 7

NIU 16, No. 5 Notre Dame 14
September 7, 2024 – South Bend, Indiana – Notre Dame Stadium
 
 
***NIU earned its first win over a Top 5 ranked team in school history with today’s 16-14 victory over Notre Dame.  Previously, the highest ranked opponents the Huskies have defeated was No. 15 Maryland on August 28, 2003 at Huskie Stadium, a 20-13 win in overtime.
 
***NIU defeated a ranked non-conference opponent for the first time since a win at No. 21 Alabama on Sept. 20, 2003.  The Huskies’ last win over a ranked team was a 30-27 victory over No. 20 Toledo on November 3, 2015.
 
***NIU’s win was the first by a Mid-American Conference team over a Top 5 ranked opponent.
 
***The win was the 19^th “Boneyard Win” in school history. Boneyard Wins are victories over power conference, ranked teams and notable independents (ND, BYU). NIU’s last Boneyard Win was last season over Boston College in the season opener.  NIU has three Boneyard wins under head coach Thomas Hammock since 2021.
 
***Antario Brown’s 83-yard catch and run tied for the eighth longest pass play in school history.  It was the Huskies’ longest pass play since 2008 (Chandler Harnish to Nathan Palmer, 8-30-08 vs. Minnesota) and the second longest reception by a running back ever at NIU.
 
***Antario Brown recorded the first 100-yard receiving game of his career (came into the season with 59 career receiving yards on 13 catches) and the first 100-yard receiving game by a Huskie running back since NIU great. Garrett Wolfe had 114 receiving yards at Ohio State (9-2-06).
 
***Cade Haberman blocked a pair of field goals in the game to record the Huskies’ first field goal block since the 2021 season opener versus Georgia Tech (9-4-21). Haberman’s blocks came at the end of the first half on a 48-yard attempt and at the end of the game on a 62-yard try. They were the first blocks of his NIU career.
 
***Brown finished the first half with 199 yards of total offense (126 receiving, 73 rushing) and finished the game with 225 after leaving the game in the fourth quarter.
 
***Christian Fuhrman’s interception was NIU’s first of the season and his first as a Huskie. Amariyun Knighten’s fourth quarter interception was the first of his Huskie career.
 
***Devonte O’Malley recorded a pair of sacks and three tackles for loss to lead the NIU defense. O’Malley’s only other two-sack game was versus Eastern Michigan in 2022.
 
***NIU had more yards of total offense than the Irish (388-286), forced five punts and won the turnover battle (2-0).
 
NIU FOOTBALL POST-GAME QUOTES
 
Head Coach Thomas Hammock
 
“I’m really proud of our players. I didn’t think we need luck; we just need to play our best. It wasn’t the cleanest for us but we played hard for four quarters. They worked together and stayed together, and believed. They made enough plays to win. I couldn’t be prouder of our coaches and staff, everybody involved. What an opportunity. This is a program-changing type win. We want to continue going forward as a program. Hopefully with a win like this, our supporters will start to back our program in a major, major way.”
 
“We develop, we recruit, we find the right kind of kids that want to work and grind. They’re not affected by outside things. We built a great culture here, a family atmosphere. Our guys love coming into the building. We love being around them. When you do it step by step, and don’t take any shortcuts, things like this are possible.”
 
on Antario
 
“I think he’s one of the best backs in the country. I know people talk about the kid from Boise State (Ashton Jeanty), but he’s 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. We used him a lot. I told him he did more than enough to put us in a position to win the game. I told [Huskie great] Michael Turner [on the sidelines] before the game that we needed a Michael Turner-type performance, and he did that in a big, big way. That slant early, catching the ball and doing a bunch of different things. He showed why I believe he’s one of the best-kept secrets in America.”
 
 
Defense
 
“We were bigger than they thought. We’re not a normal MAC team in my opinion. We’re big on the offensive and defensive line and we’re physical. I didn’t look at it as a mismatch. Our kids went out there and played hard, tough and physical. I told them all week ‘you can make a mistake but you can’t lack physicality.’ We won the battle up front.”
 
Special Teams
 
“We put a lot of emphasis on special teams. I told our coaches that I had a dream last night that the game would come down to a field goal. Kanon nailed that game-winner. He’s going to have that moment engraved in his mind for the rest of his life.”
 
 
QB ETHAN HAMPTON
“This is amazing. It’s my first time experiencing this as a starter. We’ve had some power-five wins before, but not against a ranked team much less a top-five team. Just like Coach said, it’s big for the program. It’s a surreal experience, something I’ll remember forever.”
 
“We didn’t have to prove it to ourselves that we could win the game. We knew that in the locker room before we took the field. That early touchdown pass was huge, to score and even it up was the response that helped propel the game in the direction it went.”
 
DT CADE HABERMAN
“We were ready for what they do on field goal. When kickers go further back, the angle is lower so props to the defense for forcing them into those longer field goals. It gave the interior three a chance to get our hands up and make a play. The last one, the kick angle had to be right over my head. We knew we had the more-physical players in the middle and got good penetration.”
 
K KANON WOODILL
“I just tried to tuck it away in the moment. This is what I do. I go out there and kick footballs, and I went out there and executed. A 35-yarder is well within my range, that’s makeable. It’ll take a couple hours to really process it. It’s unreal. The support from the people who came was great. I have over 300 notifications on my phone. It’s just crazy.”
 
RB ANTARIO BROWN
“This is really special to me. [Offensive coordinator] Coach Beschorner found a lot of ways to get me the ball. This team win means a lot. It’s the most special, against a top-five team.”
 
On 83-yd TD reception
“That one was huge. Coach Beschorner drew that up for me. When I ran the route, I got hit and Ethan got hit too but he still threw it. I caught it and I was like ‘oh my gosh this is really happening’. It’s the longest catch of my career. It was a huge play early in the game for us. It took some wind out of the crowd.”