CNN
—

The Northern Illinois Huskies shocked No. 5 Notre Dame with a dramatic upset at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday.

Cannon Woodill’s 35-yarder field goal with 31 seconds left gave the Huskies a two-point lead in the closing minutes before Cade Haberman blocked a Notre Dame field goal attempt from 62 yards to secure the 16-14 victory.

The win is Northern Illinois’ first ever over a top-five opponent, with NBC’s commentary team calling it the “biggest upset” in school history.

“I’m so proud of the kids, our coaches, everybody, they believed in it,” an emotional Huskies head coach Thomas Hammock told NBC afterward. “They believed in it and we came out here and got it done.

“They listened to what I said, I told them all week: ‘We don’t need luck, we just have to do our best’, and today they were at their best.”

The Fighting Irish had taken the lead on Saturday, but the Huskies responded in impressive fashion with an 83-yard touchdown pass from Ethan Hampton to Antario Brown and two field goals from Woodill to give them a six-point lead.

A 34-yard touchdown run from Jeremiyah Love gave Notre Dame a one-point lead midway through the third quarter.

And with just under six minutes left in the game, Northern Illinois got the ball back when Amariyun Knighten intercepted a pass from Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard and returned the ball 30 yards to Notre Dame’s 50-yard line.

The team drove down the field, scoring two third downs and one fourth down, until they reached the Fighting Irish 19-yard line.

Woodill converted the field goal, his third of the afternoon, giving Notre Dame just seconds to mount a comeback.

They managed to reach the Northern Illinois 44-yard line before the drive stalled, leaving them with just five seconds to score a 62-yard field goal.

But Haberman was able to block the attempt by Notre Dame’s Mitch Jeter, his second block of the day, setting off wild scenes of celebration as Northern Illinois players and coaches took the field.

It’s the first win by a Mid-American Conference team over a team ranked in the top five by the Associated Press.

Hammock explained afterwards why the victory was so special for him.

“All these guys that have been in our program, they’ve been through the ups and downs and they keep fighting,” he said, his voice breaking with emotion. “It’s like they’re my kids! I’m happy for the adversity, that they keep going no matter what, and I just couldn’t be more proud.”