March Madness is over four months away, yet the first thing brought to mind by Northern Illinois’ reaction upon earning an Orange Bowl berth was a mid-major or bubble team finding out that they had made the Big Dance.
All the Huskies players and coaches were gathered in a football meeting room on Sunday night and nervously watched ESPN list the teams ranked 12–15, which would clinch a BCS bowl berth. Upon seeing that NIU had jumped to No. 15 following its MAC Championship Game victory on Friday night, everyone in the room went nuts.
It is a great reaction to watch. Fittingly it boasts a 140-to-2, like-to-dislike ratio. What are the odds that those two “dislikes” are both from Kirk Herbstreit?
[YouTube]
