DEKALB — No. 23 Northern Illinois pulled off the shocker of the season two weeks ago at Notre Dame.
The buzz and attention that came with it was all well and good. But as far as the Huskies (2-0) are concerned, it won’t mean as much if they let their guard down.
Northern Illinois hosts Buffalo on Saturday in the MAC opener for both teams and its first game since the stunner in South Bend, a 16-14 surprise against a team that was ranked fifth in the nation.
“I know to the outside world, people are still talking about that game,” coach Thomas Hammock said. “But one of our five fights is us versus them. We moved on last week. It’s great for the university, great for the athletic department, great for the football program. But we have a job to do to make sure we can play our best football on Saturday.”
Northern Illinois had never beaten a top-10 opponent and no MAC member had taken out one in the top five. That changed when Kanon Woodill hit a 35-yard field goal with 31 seconds to play against Notre Dame, and Cade Haberman blocked a 62-yard try as time expired.
The Huskies’ first win over a ranked team since 2015 vaulted them into the top 25 for the first time in 11 years at No. 25. They moved up two spots during their bye.
“We played a tremendous team and we played as hard as we can play, and we gave ourselves a chance to win in the fourth quarter,” said Hammock, a former star running back in his sixth season leading his alma mater. “To say it was an eye-opener, that would be a disrespect to our football team. We’ve got a good football team that expects to go out there and compete at a high level.”
Beating Buffalo
Northern Illinois will try to keep it going against Buffalo (2-1), which was picked to finish 10th out of 12 teams by MAC coaches. They had NIU tied with Bowling Green for third.
Buffalo bounced back from a 38-0 rout at then-No. 9 Missouri by pounding Massachusetts 34-3 last week.
Efficient QB
When it comes to efficiency, no quarterback has been better than NIU’s Ethan Hampton.
After winning a competition for the starting job, he leads the nation in passing efficiency and yards per attempt. Hampton is 28 for 39 with 526 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions.
New coach
Buffalo is trying to get back to winning on a consistent basis under new coach Pete Lembo.
The Bulls took a step back under Maurice Linguist, who left after three years leading the Bulls to become an assistant coach at Alabama under Kalen DeBoer. The Bulls went 14-23 under Linguist. He was hired in 2021 to replace Lance Leipold, who left for Kansas after closing a six-year run with three straight bowl appearances.
Lembo spent the past three years as South Carolina’s special teams coordinator. He was previously a head coach in the MAC, leading Ball State to a 33-29 record from 2011 to 2015.
Big plays
Northern Illinois’ Antario Brown came up big last week.
He became the first Huskies running back since Garrett Wolfe in 2006 with a 100-yard receiving game, with two receptions for 126 yards and a touchdown. That included an 83-yard score when he broke loose between two defensive backs on a pass from Hampton.
Brown also had 99 yards rushing on 20 carries.
Top-ped 25
Buffalo hasn’t had much luck against ranked teams.
The Bulls are 1-16 against top 25 opponents, with the win coming against No. 14 Ball State in the 2008 MAC championship game. After getting shut out by Missouri two weeks ago, they’re facing another stiff test. This will mark the first time Buffalo is going against ranked opponents in consecutive road games since 2013, when No. 2 Ohio State and No. 23 Baylor won by a combined 110-33.