Huskies squeeze into Orange Bowl

Monday, December 3, 2012

— Northern Illinois has had quite a week.

The Huskies won a conference championship on Friday, lost a coach on Saturday and busted the BCS on Sunday.

The Huskies (12-1) are headed to the Orange Bowl, set to make their Bowl Championship Series debut against Florida State.

Northern Illinois beat Kent State in overtime to win the Mid-American Conference title on Friday, lost coach Dave Doeren to North Carolina State on Saturday, and then spent Sunday anxiously waiting to see if it cracked the top 16 in the final BCS standings.

By 0.0404 points, the Huskies did just that and will play in Miami on Jan. 1 as their reward.

“We are sure excited,” said Rod Carey, the former Northern Illinois offensive assistant who was promoted to head coach Sunday evening, just before learning the team made the Orange Bowl. “It’s been a crazy weekend up here at Northern Illinois.”

The MAC champions were15th in the final BCS standings. Finishing in the top 16 and ahead of the champion of a qualifying conference - they actually finished ahead of two, Big East winner Louisville and Big Ten titlist Wisconsin - meant the Huskies were automatically BCS-bound, earning them this date with the Atlantic Coast Conference champion Seminoles (11-2).

Northern Illinois is the first MAC school to reach the BCS. The Huskies were 21st in last week’s BCS standings, meaning they not only needed to beat Kent State - which entered championship week as another BCS hopeful - they also needed some help to reach the top 16. And help came, particularly with Nebraska losing badly in the Big Ten title game, along with UCLA and Texas both falling over the weekend.

Northern Illinois has compiled the best record (21-1) among FBC schools since last Oct. 1. That’s two more victory than Alabama and four more than Notre Dame - the Crimson Tide and Fighting Irish are this year’s title-game qualifiers - over that stretch.

And the Huskies have a quarterback, Jordan Lynch, who ranks third nationally in total offense at 364.1 yards per game, behind only Baylor’s Nick Florence (387.7) and Texas A&M’s Heisman-hopeful Johnny Manziel (383.3).

“We’re 12-1,” Lynch told ESPN. “We faced tons of adversity this year. We won tons of games. ... We definitely deserve to be in there.”

The Huskies’ only loss came to Iowa, 18-17, on Sept. 1. Northern Illinois led by eight points with 10 minutes to play, then gave up the game-deciding touchdown with 2:15 left.

Florida State earned its Orange Bowl trip by topping Georgia Tech 21-15 in the ACC title game on Saturday night.

The Seminoles have been in more Orange Bowls (9) than Northern Illinois has been in bowls. This trip to Miami will be the eighth postseason game for the Huskies, who lost to South Florida in the International Bowl three seasons ago, then beat Fresno State (Humanitarian Bowl) and Arkansas State (GoDaddy.com Bowl) in the past two years.

The stakes are a tad higher this time around.

“This will go down as a seminal day in the history of our university and of our football program,” Northern Illinois Athletic Director Jeff Compher said.

The Huskies’ got into the BCS mix came at Oklahoma’s expense.

Oklahoma (10-2) won a share of the Big 12 title and lost only to Kansas State and Notre Dame. Kansas State earned the Big 12’s automatic bid to the Fiesta Bowl, but the Sooners seemed like a lock to get an at-large bid - most likely to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans to play Florida.

Instead, Louisville is going there to meet the Gators, and Oklahoma is headed to the Cotton Bowl against BCS No. 9 Texas A&M.

So, how does a team that lost to Iowa (4-8), which finished the year on a six-game losing streak, actually belong in the BCS?

Northern Illinois gets a chance to prove why or why not in four weeks.

“You don’t get in this game unless you’re a great football team,” Florida State Coach Jimbo Fisher said. “They’re a great football team. They’ve earned the right to be here.”

Sports, Pages 13 on 12/03/2012