Northern Illinois Over Notre Dame and The Incredible MAC Season of 2003

Northern Illinois' win at Notre Dame was a landmark game in Mid-American Conference history, but the league has a long way to go to match the magic of its 2003 season.

I provide syndicated coverage for the wire service Field Level Media, including some college football commentary. This past week’s column focused on Northern Illinois and its 16-14 win over Notre Dame, which I deemed the most significant win ever for either the Huskies or the Mid-American Conference.

Coming to that determination required revisiting MAC upsets of yesteryear. Never before had a MAC program upset a top-five opponent, though members of the conference came close. And it happened a few times in the 2003 season.

Northern Illinois got this party started in Week 1 when Maryland came to DeKalb. The idea of a power-conference program playing a road game against one of the outsiders always jumps out to me — though a tip of the cap to Arizona State, which on the evening of this newsletter’s publishing, visits Texas State.

Anyway, credit is in order for Maryland taking this game. It’s presumably now in some kind of power-program administrator database with Boise State’s 2009 win over Oregon as examples of why not to travel to non-power conference programs’ homes.

Northern Illinois limited the No. 15-ranked Terps to 222 total yards, 12 first downs and 3-of-13 conversions on third down. The Huskies dominated time of possession, thanks in part to converting nine more first downs and producing 103 more yards than Maryland.

Yet despite the gap in production, the teams went to overtime when NIU kicker Steve Azar was blocked by Madieu Williams on a would-be game-winner with zeroes on the clock. Home-field advantage or no, an ending like that feels ripe for fating an underdog to a loss.

Instead, the Huskies buckled down and on the first possession of the extra frame, scored on Josh Haldi’s 20-yard touchdown pass to Dan Sheldon. By scoring first, NIU put the pressure on Maryland. The Terps felt it, too, with quarterback Scott McBrien’s game-tying touchdown pass attempt instead picked off by Huskies defensive back Randee Drew.

In the days leading up to the Thursday night affair, then-NIU coach Joe Novak said that Maryland “might be the best team ever to play in our stadium.” Novak’s words weren’t hyperbole: The long-struggling program enjoyed an immediate and remarkable turnaround under coach Ralph Friedgen, who led the Terps to a 10-1 regular season in 2001 and trip to the Orange Bowl.

Maryland followed that with 11 wins in 2002, including a Peach Bowl victory. And, despite the season-opening loss at Northern Illinois, the 2003 Terps were another impressive bunch that recovered to go 10-3.

It’s the best three-year run at Maryland since Jim Tatum’s top 10 teams of 1953-1955, and that Terrapin team was indeed the best opponent to visit Huskie Stadium – but perhaps not the best opponent NIU faced that year. Another team arguably took over that distinction two months later. But we’ll get into that in a moment.

First, I’d like to offer some personal context. I watched Northern Illinois’ win over Maryland live on Fox Sports Net and it provided an important entry into my then-burgeoning enjoyment of the MAC. The conference first came onto my radar when Randy Moss became a Heisman Trophy finalist in 1997.

His subsequent pairing on the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings with another MAC alum —Daunte Culpepper of UCF¹ — further piqued my curiosity. So, too, did the buzz around Marshall during its undefeated 1999 season.

Although Tulane ran the table the year prior, the ’99 Thundering Herd were the first non-BCS program to really engender significant national interest in crashing the newly formed Bowl Championship Series. Having a recent alum who became an immediate sensation in the NFL didn’t hurt, but that Marshall team also benefited from opening its season with a signature win.

The Herd went into Death Valley and spoiled the debut of Clemson coach Tommy Bowden – coincidentally, the head coach at Tulane in 1998 – with a 13-10 win. It was one of only three times in its 13-0 season that Marshall scored fewer than 30 points.

Coupled with the win at Clemson being one of 12 in which the Herd allowed fewer than 20 points, it goes without saying that Marshall absolutely pounded most of its competition. A rare exception was the 1999 MAC Championship Game, an instant classic in which the Herd rallied from a 20-0 halftime deficit to win, 34-30.

Thus began a run of wildly entertaining MAC Championship Games featuring Marshall, including two of my all-time favorite college games: The 2001 and 2002 MAC title tilts between Marshall and Toledo.

While the Mid-American Conference wouldn’t firmly plant its flag on November midweek nights for a few more years, the ethos of MACtion was arguably born in those championship contests. They set the foundation for a 2003 season that remains the benchmark for the conference, and that ranks among the very best for any league in recent history.

OK, let’s circle back to that tease regarding Northern Illinois playing an opponent potentially better than Maryland. It was the Saturday before Halloween 2003, and the undefeated Huskies ascended to No. 12 in the AP Top 25.

College Gameday set up shop in MAC Country as new entrant into the AP Poll, No. 23-ranked Bowling Green, came to town. Given the buzz surrounding this matchup, it’s fair to deem this the biggest MAC game ever until Northern Illinois played Kent State in 2012 with an Orange Bowl bid on the line.

Though Urban Meyer was gone, having left for Utah, his offensive influence was still evident at Bowling Green. The Falcons averaged 33.6 points per game for the season, good for No. 20 nationally, and twice eclipsed 60 points.

Bowling Green’s two 60-plus-point outpourings bookended the first of two Falcons wins over opponents ranked No. 16 or better in the AP Poll.

One week after Northern Illinois shocked Maryland, Bowling Green went into No. 16-ranked Purdue’s Ross-Ade Stadium and beat the Boilermakers, 27-26. The Chicago Bears may have won XLI had Kyle Orton started at quarterback, but on this Saturday 21 years ago, he could not lead Purdue past a Bowling Green team with Josh Harris behind center.

Harris erupted for 357 yards passing and three touchdowns, the latter matching Orton, while Falcons receivers Cole Magner and James Hawkins totaled 127 and 106 yards.

Harris again threw three touchdowns two months later against No. 12 Northern Illinois, while Charles Sharon hauled in two scores and 123 of Harris’ 438 yards in a 34-18 Bowling Green win.

The victory was 1-of-11 for the Falcons, culminating in its second defeat of a Big Ten foe at the Motor City Bowl. Bowling Green edged Northwestern, 28-27, with Harris accounting for all four Falcons touchdowns.

As for Northern Illinois, the Huskies went 10-2 but the loss to Bowling Green — coupled with a defeat at Toledo in the penultimate week of the regular season — effectively kept them out of the postseason.

On the topic of postseason expansion, the College Football Playoff growing to include 12 teams this year is intriguing in the context of the 2003 season. Had the Playoff existed then with its current format, designating automatic bids for the power-conference champions and one for the top-ranked Group of Five conference team, the MAC would have made the field.

Champion Miami OH reached No. 14 in the final AP Poll before bowl games and No. 11 in the BCS rankings. The Redhawks were 12-1 after a 49-27 win over Bowling Green in the MAC Championship Game.

Ben Roethlisberger was already nationally recognized, widely considered a surefire 1st Round NFL draft pick by this point. Yet, despite throwing for four touchdowns and a MAC Championship Game record 440 yards, it wasn’t enough to land Roethlisberger an invitation to the following week’s Heisman Trophy ceremony.

Then again, had Roethlisberger been a true Heisman candidate, precedent that season suggests Miami would have lost.

Of the conference’s signature victories in 2003, two came against Heisman finalists — and the two finalists who, for my money, were most deserving to win the award ahead of actual recipient Jason White.

Bruce Gradkowski’s touchdown pass to Lance Moore in the final minute gave Toledo a 35-31 win over Pitt — another matchup in which a power-conference team visited an outsider’s stadium. Add that one to the database, admins.

The Panthers went into the Glass Bowl ranked ninth nationally, boasting a potent passing attack built around wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. Toledo had no answer for Fitzgerald, either: He caught 12 passes for 201 yards and a touchdown.

But on the other side of the field, the Rockets went for a staggering 461 passing yards. Moore was responsible for 162 and Steve Odom brought in 135 in 1-of-2 MAC wins over top 10-ranked opponents that Sept. 20.

The other saw Marshall, fresh off a 24-17 loss to Toledo, visit Kansas State and win, 27-20.

Marshall’s defense limited Heisman contender Darren Sproles to one of his more modest outputs of the season, 77 yards on 14 carries with a touchdown and five receptions for 50 yards. Thirty-three yards came on a reception during K-State’s last gasp possession, moving the Wildcats down near the goal line.

Marshall stiffened and on four snaps inside the seven-yard line, the Herd denied Sproles and Kansas State to preserve a 27-20 win.

K-State’s No. 6 ranking made this the MAC’s highest-rated upset prior to Northern Illinois’ win at Notre Dame. Marshall’s victory is still arguably the most impressive in MAC history, given K-State went on to win the Big 12 championship.

In fact, of the MAC’s stunners in 2003, Northern Illinois’ defeat of No. 21-ranked Alabama in Tuscaloosa was the only one that didn’t hold up by season’s end. Purdue won nine games and finished ranked No. 18. Kansas State went 11-4 with its league title en tow and was No. 14. Maryland was No. 17 in the last AP Top 25. Pitt fell out of the polls at 8-5, but Fitzgerald’s 2003 is rightly remembered among the very best seasons ever for a college wide receiver.

And the MAC beat them all.

1. UCF was not a full member of the MAC in 1998 when Culpepper passed for 3,690 yards and 28 touchdowns en route to finishing sixth in Heisman voting. The Knights did, however, play a modified MAC schedule that season against four opponents from their future (and short-lived) home league.