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NIU broke most of the important team records this football season. Most wins (12). Most consecutive wins (12). First BCS game when they made it to the Orange Bowl. The only ones they missed were highest-ever ranking, but they fixed that by ending the season ranked for the first time in school history in the final polls.
NIU finished No. 22 in the Associated Press poll and No. 24 in the USA Today coaches poll after losing to Florida State in the Orange Bowl.
The Huskies were ranked No. 16 by The Associated Press and No. 15 in the BCS standings before playing the ACC champions.
The highest NIU has ever climbed in the rankings was No. 10 in the BCS and No. 12 in the AP poll when they started the 2003 season 7-0 with wins over Alabama, Maryland and Iowa State.
But it's far more important where you finish than how you start, so finishing the season ranked was a landmark event in NIU history. Not as big as going to the Orange Bowl, but still big.
“Being ranked in the final polls is another addition to the legacy that our seniors and this 2012 team have created at NIU, another ‘first’ they have accomplished among many,” coach Rod Carey said in an NIU news release. “It’s special and gratifying for our entire program, but I’m especially happy for the senior class because of how they represented NIU and how dedicated they have been to this football program.”
NIU had narrowly missed the last two years, finishing one spot out of the rankings at 26th in the USA Today coaches poll each of the last two years and 28th and 29th in the AP Poll, which does not omit teams that are on probation.
Northern Illinois’ 2012 senior class won a school-record 41 games in four seasons, but the Huskies return eight starters on offense and four on defense in 2013, including quarterback Jordan Lynch, who finished seventh in the Heisman vote.
Matt Trowbridge discusses (mostly) sports, from Rockford to Chicago and beyond. In his 20 years at the Rockford Register Star, he’s covered the Final Four, the Olympics and the NBA Finals and has been a beat writer for the NFL and Major League Baseball. He has also covered high school sports in more than 40 local towns. Matt lives, votes and pays taxes in Rockford and his daughters go to Rockford public schools, so he also sometimes writes about Rockford issues outside the world of sports.
