The Northern Illinois football team pulled off the biggest win in school history and the biggest stunner of the 2024 college football season thus far with a 16-14 win over 5th-ranked Notre Dame on Sept. 7 in South Bend.
Three former area players are on the Huskies’ roster. Former Shepard star Roy Williams, a 6-foot-6, 251-pound defensive end, assisted on a tackle in the game. Ricky Taylor Jr., a Brother Rice graduate, is a freshman wide receiver and St. Rita graduate Isaiah Bragg is a redshirt junior cornerback.
Notre Dame, which had NCAA playoff aspirations, paid NIU $1.4 million to play in South Bend, ostensibly because it was perceived to be an easy victory over a team from the Mid-America Conference.