The Huskies will look to knock off a non-conference ranked team for the first time since 2003, when they play the fifth-ranked Fighting Irish this weekend
This Saturday the Northern Illinois Huskies will head to South Bend, Indiana for their toughest test of the season, when they take on the fifth-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Despite Notre Dame being closer than any MAC school, and just 160 miles from DeKalb (the third closest FBS team to NIU), these two schools have never met on the gridiron before. It will also be the first time Northern plays a nationally televised game on network TV.
Both teams enter with identical 1-0 records. The Huskies easily dispatched of in-state foe Western Illinois, 54-15, while the Irish handled the then-ranked 20th Texas A&M Aggies, 23-13.
Game notes
- Time and date: Saturday, September 7th at 3:30 p.m. ET
- Network: NBC/Peacock
- Location: Notre Dame Stadium — South Bend, IN
- Spread: ND (-28)
- Over/under: 44.5
- All-time series: First Meeting
Getting to know the Huskies
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Last week we saw one of the best offensive performances from this Huskie squad under Head Coach Thomas Hammock. NIU amassed 706 total yards in a very balanced attack – 394 yards passing and another 312 yards on the ground. They averaged over ten yards per play, racked up 30 first downs, and were a nearly perfect on third downs, converting seven of their eight attempts.
Quarterback Ethan Hampton looked much better against WIU than he had in his previous starts. His throws were accurate and he was able to find his receivers 90% of the time, completing 18 of his 20 throws for 328 yards and five touchdowns. His passer rating of 310.3 broke the NIU single game record. This will be his second start against a top-ten team, as he was at the helm for the Huskies in a close 31-23 loss at #8 Kentucky back in 2022.
Hampton (and the other two Huskie QBs) spread the ball around a lot last game as eleven different players had a reception but Grayson Barnes and Trayvon Rudolph got the bulk of the attention. Barnes led the team with five reception and had 95 yards, including a 60-yard touchdown reception, while Rudolph had 104 yards on his four catches – which included a 43-yard TD. Rudolph also made an impact in the ground game, as he had two carries for 67 yards capped off by a massive 60-yard touchdown run.
The Huskies are mostly a run-first team and, while they do have a plethora of halfbacks, most of the run game will go through Antario Brown. In the blowout win last week, FIVE NIU players had 40+ rushing yards. Brown carried the ball just eight times last game but averaged over 8.5 yards per carry en route to 69 yards. Gavin Williams, who will backup Brown most of the time, had nine carries for 41 yards. Jaylen Poe and Justin Lynch will also likely see snaps. They each finished with 42 rushing yards on seven and six carries, respectively.
Defensively the Huskies will need to ramp up their pressure. Last season NIU struggled to get sacks or tackles for loss and trend continued against Western last week. Northern only managed five TFLs and a single sack and just three quarterback hurries. And with them going against a much bigger and stronger line this week, they will need to use their speed to get around those more powerful ND offensive line. Defensive end, Roy Williams, can make an impact, as he leads the team with six tackles and had the lone sack last week.
Christian Fuhrman, a senior transfer, had a great game at linebacker last week. He tallied 4 stops and .5 TFL in his debut as a Huskie. Joining him in the middle will be seniors Jaden Dolphin and Quinn Urwiler, the duo combined for seven stops and a tackle for loss last week as well.
The Huskie secondary was one of the nation’s best last season, finishing in the top ten of numerous categories. But there have been some personnel changes so it will be interesting to see how they match up with the Fighting Irish receivers as opposed to the FCS receivers last week. Safeties Muhammad Jammeh and Nate Valcarcel, along with cornerbacks JaVaughn Byrd and Jashon Prophete, will have their hands to say the least.
Getting to know the Irish
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Notre Dame is coming off a big top-20 win after pulling away from #20 Texas A&M in the fourth quarter last week. Against that solid Aggie defense, the Irish were able to net 356 yards (158 passing and 198 rushing) but were only 2-12 on third downs. The Irish also committed 11 fouls, totaling 99 yards.
Leading the Irish at quarterback is former Duke Blue Devil, Riley Leonard. Last season he played in seven games and completed 57.6% of his throws for 1102 yards and three touchdowns as well as three picks. Last week he connected on just 18 of his 30 passes for 158 yards. He is a threat with his legs though, as he ran the ball 229 times for 1224 yards and 17 TDs in his three years at Duke. Last week he took off 12 times for 63 yards.
When it’s not Leonard running the ball, it will be Jeremiyah Love or Jadarian Price. Love, a sophomore ran the ball 14 times for 91 yards and a TD last week and last season he finished second on the team with 385 yards and a single score. Price, a junior, had eight carries, 44 yards, and a TD last week but finished 2023 with 272 yards and three scores on 47 carries.
Beaux Collins is the wide receiver that the Huskies secondary will need to key in on. The 6-3 senior, and former Clemson Tiger, is a massive target and could be very problematic for the Huskies. Against the Aggies he had five grabs for 62 yards but in his career he has over 1350 yards and 11 TDs on 96 receptions. Jaden Greathouse and tight end Mitchell Evens are two other big options for Leonard. Greathouse will most likely be the slot receiver and has 21 catches for 291 yards and five touchdowns in nine games for the Irish. Evens led the team in receiving last year, with 422 yards on 29 receptions and he only played in eight games. The Irish will be without receiver Jordan Faison, as he will miss a few weeks after getting injured last week.
In their season opener, the Notre Dame defense held A&M to just 246 yards – 100 passing and 146 rushing. They also forced two turnovers, a pair of interceptions, and limited TAMU to just 4-13 on third down and 0-2 on fourth down conversions.
The Irish defense certainly looks to be better than the Huskies offense…on paper.
Up front they have Jordan Botelho and Howard Cross III, who will be tasked with getting in to the Huskie backfield. Botelho, a 6-3, 250 pound senior, had six tackles and two QBH last week while Cross III, at 6-1 and 288 pounds, had four stops, incuding the only sack for ND. Rylie Mills is another massive lineman. At 6-5, 295 pounds, he could give the smaller Huskie offensive line some big issues this week.
In the middle, linebacker Jack Kiser led the way for the Irish, with eight total tackles in their opener, while fellow LB, Jaylen Sneed, had five stops and a TFL. Drayk Bowen, a sophomore middle linebacker, will also be covering a lot of the field.
Safeties Adon Shuler and Xavier Watts are ball hawks, as each had an interception and three tackles last week. And cornerbacks Christian Gray and Benjamin Morrison will also be looking to make plays down the sidelines. Each had a pair of tackles last week with Gray breaking up two passes to Morrison’s one PBU.
Prediction
There’s always the “cautious optimism” I have when playing a big school like this. Can NIU win? Sure. They’ve pulled off some big upsets before (i.e. Maryland, Alabama, etc..). Will they win this game? Most likely not.
It’s hard to judge how good this Huskie team is after playing a team like WIU, who is winless in their last 25 games. Yes, the Huskies played lights out last week and they looked really good. But the Irish handled a top-20 team and are just bigger, stronger, and faster than the Huskies on both sides of the ball.
Can we keep it close? I hope so. I don’t want this to get out of hand like the Michigan game a few years back. If Hampton can keep calm and not force throws or make mistakes and Brown can find a few holes, NIU can keep it close. But how long can the Huskie defense last against that Irish offense?
NIU – 17
ND – 35