There are just some events that are transformative to a college football program. Hiring a special coach, recruiting a top quarterback, building a new state of the art stadium, or what the Northern Illinois Huskies did yesterday, upset a number five ranked Notre Dame at South Bend 16-14.
If you watched the whole game you likely were not surprised at the outcome because the boys from NIU outplayed the Fighting Irish from after the ND first possession until the very end of the game. The Irish were outcoached, outkicked, and just overall beat badly.
Twenty-nine years ago, nearly to the day, another floundering program surprised a ranked Notre Dame team in South Bend when the Northwestern Wildcats, and new head coach Gary Barnett, stunned the football world with a 17-15 victory. The season opening win for the Wildcats propelled them to win the Big Ten and go to the Rose Bowl.
And if you want to know what I mean by transformational read this. Prior to 1995 the Wildcats had a horrible losing record and frankly they were in danger of being asked to resign from the Big Ten because they just weren't competitive. With this victory they compiled a record of 183-175 between 1995 and 2024's first two games. In that span they have gone to 16 bowl games. Prior to 1995 they went to just one. That's what happens when you win on national TV against a good team.
Head coach Thomas Hammock was emotional after the game, and rightly so. His team was 28.5 points underdogs to a Notre Dame team that was picked to be one of the top teams in this years football playoffs. They still may be but for this weekend the top dogs are the Huskies.
As Sports Illustrated Patrick Andres said in his opening sentence, "For as long as they play football in DeKalb, IL, they will discuss the events of Saturday." He's right. When you have a win like this it allows you to recruit better players because NIU will now get more air time than usual and players want to be on national TV so the pro's see them. This program is about to take off and I will be surprised if they aren't one of the most talked about programs in ten years still. They will of course have up and down seasons, all teams do, but their record going forward will be markedly better than it already is, which is not too bad.
What a great day to be a fan of NIU.
And speaking of being a fan, Linda and I celebrated our forty-sixth anniversary early this year by going to see Earth, Wind, and Fire together with Chicago here in Palm Desert. EW&F opened the show and for over an hour they brought the crowd to our collective feet with a string of their hits to close out their set and it was sensational.
After a short break the headliners, Chicago, took the stage and opened with a fanfare instrumental medley of their hits that rocked the house. Then for the next hour plus they played all the songs we came to hear. There is no question that after playing together for fifty plus years you get pretty decent and know how to put on a show. Both bands for that matter.
There was an even shorter break and then both bands took the stage together for a four song encore and then another two song encore that was absolutely breathtaking. Ending the night with both bands playing and singing 25 or 6 to 4. Wow! We both said the same thing on the drive home, the voices might be showing some age but man they can still play with the best of them. What a fabulous show and if they come to your town make sure you go see these two legendary bands. (Trivia note - both are from Chicago)
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