The question wasn’t if Notre Dame football would fail to live up to expectations this season, but when. Surprisingly, the answer came in Week 2, when the Northern Illinois Huskies pulled off the biggest win in school history with Saturday’s 16-14 upset of the No. 5 Fighting Irish in South Bend.

After opening the season with a 23-13 win over Texas A&M on the road, Notre Dame would have an easier task this weekend. The Fighting Irish were a 28-point favorite against Northern Illinois, and history was not on the side of the underdogs. In 51 tries, a Mid-American Conference team had never defeated a top-five opponent. Still, the Huskies refused to be tossed around.

The Irish scored a touchdown on the opening drive, but didn’t add any more points in the first half. Northern Illinois blocked Mitch Jeter’s 48-yard field goal attempt just before halftime and held on to a 13-7 lead after two quarters. Notre Dame’s second-half adjustments led to an impressive touchdown run by Jeremiyah Love in the third quarter, but quarterback Riley Leonard continued to struggle, throwing a brutal interception to Amariyun Knighten with about six minutes left in the game. Following the turnover, the Huskies engineered a drive that ended with Kanon Woodill’s 35-yard field goal to take the lead with 31 seconds left. (There was a rather questionable call by the officials on that NIU drive, in which an obvious first-down run was instead ruled a fourth down, though it ultimately didn’t matter.) Jeter attempted a 62-yard kick as time expired, but it was blocked by Cade Haberman, and the Fighting Irish completed a faceplant for the ages.

Notre Dame’s shame is Northern Illinois’ joy. Huskies head coach Thomas Hammock has been through a lot since taking the job in 2019, including a winless COVID season with an extremely young team, a MAC championship in 2021 and two bowl appearances. But there had never been a win this big in the program’s history, and in the postgame interview, the former NIU running back broke down in tears. “I’ve been telling (the team) all week, ‘We don’t need luck. We just need to play our best,’” Hammock said. “And they were at their best today.”

For playing the role of apparent punching bag at a prestigious school’s home game, Northern Illinois is paid $1.4 million. This was supposed to be one of Notre Dame’s easy games! The potential choke was supposed to come later in the year against either Louisville or USC. Instead, the Fighting Irish were outclassed by a damned MAC team in their own stadium, then booed by their own fans. If any team needs luck, it’s these bozos.