Inside Northern Illinois' upset of Notre Dame: 'Hopefully they don't have Justin Tucker'

As Notre Dame lined up for a game-winning field goal against Northern Illinois on Saturday, Thomas Hammock positioned himself from the sidelines.

“I was like, ‘How long is this field goal?'” the head coach recalled Sunday. “I’m like, ‘This is a 62-yard field goal. The percentage can’t be very high.’ … I was thinking, ‘Hopefully they don’t have Justin Tucker over there.'”

The Huskies blocked the 62-yard kick, not leaving anything up to chance and stunning Notre Dame in South Bend. Northern Illinois entered the game as a 28.5-point and had never beaten a top-10 opponent. Not only did the win make school history, the Huskies became the first Mid-American Conference team to knock off an AP top-five team.

Hammock went viral postgame, wiping away tears as he talked about NIU’s win and the family he’s built within the program in DeKalb, Illinois.

“The way they handled the game, that’s what made me emotional,” he said. “That they were able to do the things that we talked about in practice and executed in a hostile environment against a really, really good football team, and to come out with a win.

“That emotion was my appreciation because that’s not a normal reaction, right? That was the appreciation of what we did. And as soon as I got to the locker room with my team, I was like, ‘OK, we got to go back to work.”

Northern Illinois received a police escort back into town late Saturday night. Hammock said he has “hundreds” of phone calls and texts to return. The Huskies dominated the game and bet on themselves, converting a fourth down on their game-winning drive to get within field goal range.

A former NIU running back, he rushed for 2,432 career yards. He also met his wife, Tierra, during his time in college. Hammock made coaching stops at Minnesota and Wisconsin as an assistant before landing with the Baltimore Ravens in 2014 as running backs coach. When he accepted the NIU job in January 2019, he referred to the position as a “dream job.”

“I love NIU,” Hammock said. “This place helped me develop as a player and a man, and I want to do the same for the people in our program. And to get a win like that [Notre Dame] serves as validation that we’re doing the right things and moving things in the right direction.

“And I want to continue to do that. You know, if, if people say, ‘Coach Hammock really helped change my life and get me to be a better person along the process, become a better player,’ then I’m doing what my purpose is.”

NIU debuted at No. 25 in Sunday’s AP Top 25 poll, the school’s first appearance since 2013. Despite NIL and the transfer portal, Hammock believes he’s been able to build a culture at NIU. The Huskies returned 18 starters on offense and defense. The roster also includes 11 players who have played in 40 or more games at NIU.

The program has previously found success. Former quarterback Jordan Lynch was a finalist for the 2013 Heisman Trophy. NIU went to the 2013 Orange Bowl, too. Hammock has been able to recapture that success.

“I’m just trying to help us build our program from a support standpoint, from an alumni standpoint, university standpoint,” he said. “I want to get to a point where we can have a path forward in this new era of college football with everything that’s happening. And so if we can generate more support for our program, that would make me so happy.

“There’s still a lot of people that want to be developed as people, so those are the type of guys we look for. Parents do such a great job getting their young men to college, and then at that point, it’s the coaches’ responsibility to carry their message on and help them develop into adults. We still stick to that. We will never be a transactional type program.”

With the new 12-team College Football Playoff and AP ranking, the Huskies will immediately surge into postseason conversations. But similar to the mindset of Power Five programs during the four-team CFP era, Hammock and the Huskies will just need to take it week-to-week.

Saturday’s win over Notre Dame will go down as one of the most memorable Saturdays of Hammock’s tenure. For the Huskies, it’s just another “Boneyard Wins” — the term for victories over Power 5 opponents. The Huskies are also scheduled to visit NC State on Sept. 28.

Next up for NIU: A bye week before hosting Buffalo on Sept. 21.

“You know what? If you call me in December and we keep stacking wins, then we can talk,” Hammock said. “But you know, for any Group of Five program, that’s not even a reality until you get to December. You can’t even think about that, because you just have to think about, ‘What do you need to do to win the next game?'”