Well that stinks horribly
It started well enough for Notre Dame against Northern Illinois, it ended terribly with a 16-14 loss to NIU.
The weather was fantastic and on the opening drive of the game, the Irish marched 75 yard with relative ease for a Riley Leonard touchdown run to go up 7-0.
That was the last “easy point” of the game.
NIU responded in a big way — and quickly. An Antario Brown 83 yard catch and run to tie the game at 7 a piece. Notre Dame responded terribly with a 3 and out, and NIU slowly marched down the field for a field goal to go up 10-7. On the ensuing drive for the Irish, Riley Leonard threw a low ball in the middle of the field that bounced off of Kris Mitchell and into the hands of an NIU defender for the incompletion. The Huskies went back to work on the ground, and set up for another field goal to take a 13-7 lead.
Notre Dame and NIU exchanged a couple of punts before Notre Dame managed a little bit of a drive to make a field goal attempt as the half was ending, but the Huskies blocked the Mitch Jeter kick and the upset alert was on full throttle as they went into halftime.
The Huskies put together a 39 yard drive to start the third quarter, but missed wide left on a field goal attempt (Jason Onye had just a tip of the finger on it). The Irish finally got back in the end zone with a quick 6 play drive that saw Jeremiyah Love hurdling a defender on his way to a 34 yard score to make the game 14-13.
Notre Dame failed to capitalize on the momentum, but NIU wasn’t moving the ball well either as the Irish offense got a couple of 3 and outs to put the defense in bad position. The Irish defense forced a turnover on downs, and started driving the ball downfield — but a terrible throw down the middle of the field by Riley Leonard was intercepted and returned to midfield with 5:55 left in the game.
Notre Dame forced a 4th down after NIU got to the Irish 31 yard line with two minutes remaining in the game. Ethan Hampton scrambled 3 yards to give NIU more momentum to get a chance to win. The Huskies continued to pound the ball and got it down to the Irish 20 and a 3rd and 2 with 43 seconds left in the game, and they looked like they got it — but the line judge marked it behind the first down marker. It went to review, but the play stood and NIU brought out the FG unit on 4th and 1 to make it 16-14 Huskies with 31 seconds left in the game.
Notre Dame was able to get far enough down field to try a 62 yard field goal, but Mitch Jeter was blocked for the second time on the day. Game over. Life is cruel.
More to come on OFD if we dare.