Northern Illinois football coach Thomas Hammock became an overnight celebrity on Saturday after his Huskies pulled off the shocker of the college football season so far, knocking off then-No. 5 Notre Dame 16-14 in South Bend. Northern Illinois kicker Kanon Woodill drilled a 35-yard field goal — his third make of the day — to give the Huskies the lead with 31 seconds remaining.
Hammock got a chance to reflect on his team's historic achievement on Tuesday's College Football Live.
“It was surreal in the moment,” Hammock said. “When you're playing in the game, you're trying to think of the next situation. You're trying to think of different things that may come up in the course of the game. So I couldn't really enjoy it. It came down to the end. I told my staff in the staff meeting that morning, I had a dream that it was gonna come down to a field goal. I don't know what happened because I woke up. I'm glad it went in our favor.”
Hammock and the Huskies immediately became lovable underdogs, in part due to their gritty, scrappy play and in part due to Hammock's emotional reaction immediately after the game. America will surely be keeping a close eye on how the rest of their season plays out after this stunning upset.
What went wrong for Notre Dame vs. Northern Illinois
After a promising road win in Week 1 over a tough Texas A&M squad, Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame fell flat at home against Northern Illinois and suffered the most shocking upset of this young college football season to date. So, what went wrong for the Irish?
Firstly and most importantly, the passing game is not explosive enough. Highly-touted transfer Riley Leonard threw for just 163 yards on 32 attempts, repeatedly dumping the ball underneath and letting the Husky defense rally and tackle the receiver for a short gain. Leonard also threw two interceptions on Saturday, the latter of which was a back-breaking mistake in the fourth quarter that allowed Hammock's group to drive down the field for the winning field goal.
The Irish aren't exactly running all over teams either. Notre Dame ran for 123 yards on 28 carries against an NIU front seven that, theoretically, should be overmatched against the Notre Dame offensive line. Those stats aren't poor, but you would expect a more dominant performance out of a team that is considered a College Football Playoff contender. The production on the ground was also a surprising turn of events after Notre Dame rushed for 198 yards against a very talented Texas A&M front.
The Irish defense is still elite with Freeman at the helm. They have NFL talent all over the place on that side of the ball and have even up just 29 points in two games. However, if the offense is going to continue to lag behind, it may be too much weight for the defense to pull.
Follow Us
Subscribe
