Northern Illinois quarterback Jordan Lynch threw a lot of big passes this season, but his most-appreciated toss might have been with an orange aimed at his TV set.
Listening a month ago to ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit refer to the selection of Northern Illinois for Tuesday night’s Orange Bowl game against Florida State as an “absolute joke,” Lynch unleashed a fruit attack.
“They’ve got signs all over the place in the street back home, ‘Go Huskies’ and ‘Good Luck in the Orange Bowl,’ ” NIU quarterbacks coach Bob Cole said of fans in DeKalb, Ill. “I think one store is selling oranges — Herbstreit Ammunition.”
Northern Illinois is the first Mid-American Conference school to earn a spot in a BCS bowl, and there is no shortage of critics complaining that the Huskies, MAC champions for the second consecutive season, were handed a berth that should have gone to team from a larger conference.
“You’re going to leave Oklahoma out to put Northern Illinois into a BCS bowl game?” Herbstreit railed. “Are you kidding me?”
But if there was ever a year the MAC deserved to jump into the BCS system, it was this season. A record seven conference teams are participating in bowls. Four MAC schools were ranked in the Top 25 during the regular season. Northern Illinois (12-1) enters Tuesday night’s game No. 15 in the BCS standings, ahead of Big Ten champ Wisconsin and Big East winner Louisville.
And while the Huskies won the conference championship, it was Kent State that was penciled in to become the MAC’s first BCS representative until it lost to the Huskies in the title game.
“What Northern Illinois has done is remarkable, but what is even more remarkable is that we had two teams in our conference with the chance to be here,” MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said.
NIU might find getting into the Orange Bowl far easier than winning it. The Huskies are 13 1/2-point underdogs, the most lopsided odds among the four BCS bowl games and the national championship game.
The Seminoles have produced 35 NFL first-round picks since 1951. The Huskies one.
NIU is typical of most MAC teams, built with players looked upon as not having the necessary physical tools to play for larger schools. Lynch, one of only two players in college football history to rush for 1,500 yards and throw for 2,500 yards in the same season, signed with NIU because it was the only FBS program to offer a scholarship.
“The MAC recruits players who don’t fit the perfect Division I profile,” said John Offerdahl, the former Dolphins linebacker who played at MAC member Western Michigan. “Maybe they don’t have the size or strength, but they still have talent and they’re looking to showcase themselves.
“You have to be careful from a Florida State standpoint. The want-to and desire is going to be there for Northern Illinois. You can’t take them for granted.”
NIU, winners in 21 of its last 22 games, certainly has an impressive resume. The Huskies have the nation’s longest conference winning streak (17) and, along with Oregon, are one of two FBS programs to win 11 games in each of the past three seasons.
Despite all that winning, when bowl selection day arrived Dec. 2, Cole, the quarterbacks coach, thought he was getting pranked after he began receiving texts that NIU was heading to South Florida.
“I was like, ‘Hell, no, we’re not going to the Orange Bowl,’ ” Cole said.
Steinbrecher, the MAC commissioner, said that no matter the result of the Orange Bowl, his conference has received a big boost from a financial, exposure and recruiting standpoint.
“The idea is for this not to be a one-time thing,” he said. “The idea is that this is a building block, a steppingstone. We’ve done it once. Now, can we do it again?”
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