Northern Illinois Makes All Kinds of History in Stunning Upset of No. 5 Notre Dame

The Huskies dealt coach Marcus Freeman's squad a crushing blow Saturday.

Northern Illinois celebrates scoring a touchdown during a NCAA college football game between Notre Dame and Northern Illinois at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in South Bend. / Michael Clubb / USA TODAY NETWORK

As long as they play football in DeKalb, Ill., they will discuss the events of Saturday.

Entering its game against No. 5 Notre Dame as 28-point underdogs, Northern Illinois took advantage of numerous Fighting Irish errors to pull out a truly shocking 16–14 win.

The Huskies led for much of the contest, but trailed 14–13 with 31 seconds to go. With a raucous Notre Dame Stadium crowd bearing down on him, Northern Illinois kicker Kanon Woodill pushed a 35-yard field goal through the uprights to give the Huskies the advantage.

Notre Dame kicker Mitch Jeter then missed a 62-yard field goal at the final horn to preserve Northern Illinois's victory.

it was the kind of victory that compelled a nation collectively onto College Football Reference and into its history books.

As Stewart Mandel of The Athletic noted, it was the Huskies' first ever win over a top-10 team—and the first for the MAC since Marshall and Toledo pulled dual shockers against No. 6 Kansas State and No. 9 Pittsburgh on Sept. 20, 2003.

The MAC has not had a top-10 win since 2003.

And the highest-ranked non-conference foe NIU has ever beaten was No. 15 Maryland in 2003.

— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) September 7, 2024

It was also an extraordinarily expensive loss for the Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame paid Northern Illinois $1.4 million to play in South Bend today.

The Huskies just beat the #5 Fighting Irish 16-14—the biggest upset in NIU HISTORY. pic.twitter.com/wDd5IqiDFZ

— Front Office Sports (@FOS) September 7, 2024

Northern Illinois—suddenly the darlings of college football—will enjoy a well-earned bye week before meeting Buffalo on Sept. 21.