12-03-2012, 02:52 PM
Stewart Mandel gets it.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/wr...?eref=sihp
Northern Illinois busts the BCS
In March, we celebrate Cinderella. In December, we apparently rip her apart.
The vicious reaction so far to Northern Illinois' surprising Orange Bowl berth has been a bit odd. You would think the Huskies had knocked Alabama out of the national championship game rather than 10-2 Oklahoma out of the Sugar Bowl. ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit went on television Sunday night and said: "The fact that Northern Illinois is in the BCS in 2012 is a really sad state for college football."
Wow.
Certainly, on paper, the 12-1 Huskies are less deserving than their BCS-busting predecessors. For one thing, they're not undefeated. For another, they lack a signature nonconference win like previous BCS-bound Utah, Boise State and TCU teams. In fact, NIU's profile is not altogether different than that of Hawaii in 2007. We remember how that turned out.
But what is it about college football that makes us so adverse to the underdog? On Jan. 1, an unheralded team from DeKalb, Ill., will attempt to knock off a name-brand power in Florida State. Its quarterback, Jordan Lynch, who ranks one spot behind Johnny Manziel on the NCAA total offense list, will get a chance to shine on the big stage much like all those mid-major hoops stars of March. Is this really such a bad thing?
And that's before the remarkable story of Rod Carey, the Huskies' head coach since ... about 90 minutes before Herbstreit made his comments.
How's this for a life-changing weekend? On Friday night, Carey -- a second-year staff member who moved up to offensive coordinator after the Huskies' season-opening Iowa loss due to predecessor Mike Dunbar's bout with cancer -- called the plays for NIU's 44-37 double-overtime victory against Kent State in the MAC Championship Game. He and the Huskies arrived home from Detroit around 6 a.m. About five hours later, Carey's boss, Dave Doeren, called to tell Carey he was taking NC State's vacant head-coaching job.
A whirlwind interview process ensued, and on Sunday afternoon, when SI's Pete Thamel broke the news that NIU had cracked the top 16 in the BCS standings, Carey, 41, was meeting with school officials to finalize his hiring. He didn't even catch word about the Orange Bowl until seeing it on ESPN's selection show.
"I had pressing things," said Carey, a former Indiana offensive lineman. "We were talking about the future of the program, not one game. I had no idea until it came on that TV."
Nor has Carey had time to process the fact he'll be making his head-coaching debut against 11-2 Florida State in a BCS bowl game.
"If someone wrote a short book and could rewind time and could have followed me around around from [the beginning of the season], they wouldn't believe what they're writing," said Carey.
So -- what was that again about a sad state for college football?
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/wr...?eref=sihp
Northern Illinois busts the BCS
In March, we celebrate Cinderella. In December, we apparently rip her apart.
The vicious reaction so far to Northern Illinois' surprising Orange Bowl berth has been a bit odd. You would think the Huskies had knocked Alabama out of the national championship game rather than 10-2 Oklahoma out of the Sugar Bowl. ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit went on television Sunday night and said: "The fact that Northern Illinois is in the BCS in 2012 is a really sad state for college football."
Wow.
Certainly, on paper, the 12-1 Huskies are less deserving than their BCS-busting predecessors. For one thing, they're not undefeated. For another, they lack a signature nonconference win like previous BCS-bound Utah, Boise State and TCU teams. In fact, NIU's profile is not altogether different than that of Hawaii in 2007. We remember how that turned out.
But what is it about college football that makes us so adverse to the underdog? On Jan. 1, an unheralded team from DeKalb, Ill., will attempt to knock off a name-brand power in Florida State. Its quarterback, Jordan Lynch, who ranks one spot behind Johnny Manziel on the NCAA total offense list, will get a chance to shine on the big stage much like all those mid-major hoops stars of March. Is this really such a bad thing?
And that's before the remarkable story of Rod Carey, the Huskies' head coach since ... about 90 minutes before Herbstreit made his comments.
How's this for a life-changing weekend? On Friday night, Carey -- a second-year staff member who moved up to offensive coordinator after the Huskies' season-opening Iowa loss due to predecessor Mike Dunbar's bout with cancer -- called the plays for NIU's 44-37 double-overtime victory against Kent State in the MAC Championship Game. He and the Huskies arrived home from Detroit around 6 a.m. About five hours later, Carey's boss, Dave Doeren, called to tell Carey he was taking NC State's vacant head-coaching job.
A whirlwind interview process ensued, and on Sunday afternoon, when SI's Pete Thamel broke the news that NIU had cracked the top 16 in the BCS standings, Carey, 41, was meeting with school officials to finalize his hiring. He didn't even catch word about the Orange Bowl until seeing it on ESPN's selection show.
"I had pressing things," said Carey, a former Indiana offensive lineman. "We were talking about the future of the program, not one game. I had no idea until it came on that TV."
Nor has Carey had time to process the fact he'll be making his head-coaching debut against 11-2 Florida State in a BCS bowl game.
"If someone wrote a short book and could rewind time and could have followed me around around from [the beginning of the season], they wouldn't believe what they're writing," said Carey.
So -- what was that again about a sad state for college football?
