Northern Illinois over Notre Dame is what makes college football more than NFL Lite

Northern Illinois coach Thomas Hammock’s cheeks were soaked with some of the happiest tears of his life. He was drenched in the overwhelming joy of leading his alma mater to the biggest win in school history.

His nose was running as the pride overcame him. It wasn’t pretty, but it was beautiful.

It was college football.

“All these guys that have been with our program, been through the ups and downs and to continue to fight. It’s like they my kids. I’m happy for the adversity. The push through no matter the situation,” he said. “I just couldn’t be more proud.”

When the 28.5-point underdogs finished their 2 1/2-hour bus ride home to DeKalb, Ill., after beating No. 5 Notre Dame, a swarm of fans waited in the dark to welcome them.

As I watched the aftermath of the weekend’s most impactful result, it reminded me why this has been my favorite sport for decades. I enjoy the NFL, America’s most popular sport. But I love college football. I grew up on it.

To me, the difference in the two was crystallized by Hammock’s Huskies and everything they experienced: Every single weekend, some team is playing a game the players will remember for the rest of their lives.

Also on Saturday, a freshman kicker named Kyle Konrardy — who had never attempted a college kick — flipped the fortunes of the entire state of Iowa by drilling a 54-yard field goal that put Iowa State on top of Iowa for just the second time in a decade.

In Week 1, oft-downtrodden Vanderbilt snapped a 10-game losing streak by bullying trendy College Football Playoff contender Virginia Tech and surviving a furious comeback with an overtime win. It set off a flood of chest bumps, hugs and “I love you” as the sideline spilled onto the field.

And in Week 0, Georgia Tech flew to Ireland and beat its conference’s proudest program, Florida State, which went 13-0 a season ago on the way to an ACC title. It might mean more to the players competing, but it all means a ton to the fans and alums watching around the nation and world, too.

Northern Illinois signed up to play what’s commonly known in college football as a “paycheck game,” earning $1.4 million for the experience of playing on one of sports’ most hallowed grounds and, presumably, to lose. Sometimes, though, games like these don’t play out like the architects of the contract intend.

No matter what happens this season or for the rest of Hammock’s run at NIU, reality is this: Decades from now, people will still be talking about the time their beloved Huskies walked into Notre Dame Stadium, kicked a 35-yard field goal to win it and blocked a 62-yard prayer to seal it.

In the past five years, college football has rapidly evolved (some would argue devolved) into something different than what those of us who grew up on the sport fell in love with.

Conference makeups are unnatural, the tectonic plates shifted by nonsensical moves prodded by checks from television companies at the cost of tradition, athlete experience and regional identity, once the sport’s signature.

Athletes finally have long-deserved freedom to earn money on their name, image and likeness, but because the sport had to be dragged into a more equitable landscape by the courts, that newfound freedom has also meant roster management is more difficult than ever, and for now, players’ connection with their campus is more tenuous than ever.

The NCAA is ensnared in an endless string of antitrust lawsuits that stand to continue to reshape college sports.

Northern Illinois’ entire athletic revenue last year was just over $22 million. The nation’s leaders in that particular race — Ohio State and Texas — brought in revenues more than 10 times that.

The Huskies have a collective called Boneyard Victor E., and though exact numbers are hard to come by, it’s safe to assume no Northern Illinois roster will be suiting up for $20 million like Ohio State or even $12 million like Florida State.

Schools like NIU, where Huskie Stadium seats 28,211 compared to the 77,622 seats in Notre Dame Stadium, are often helpless when bigger schools see standout players on film in leagues like NIU’s Mid-American Conference and offer a check that those schools can’t match to join a bluer blood’s roster.

Hammock’s roster wasn’t immune. Florida swiped NIU edge rusher George Gumbs. Louisville grabbed center Pete Nygra.

NIU beat Notre Dame on the scoreboard and the line of scrimmage anyway.

These are new realities that programs in lower-level conferences have to deal with. The mostly static ecosystem of the sport of the past century has quickly morphed into a merciless food chain, and those on the bottom half are left to grapple with the consequences. It’s not just players: Good head coaches at small programs leave for coordinator jobs at more well-funded programs, often seeing a clearer path to their own dreams.

Maybe moments like the ones we’ve seen the first couple of weeks will be rarer as it becomes harder for schools outside of the four power conferences to keep their best players and hire great coaches.

I suspect not. I hope not.

One secret of college football is the players at the bottom of the standings generally work just as hard as those at the top. They might be less gifted in size or skill, less well-coached or have fewer resources to maximize what ability they do have.

But they work hard. And they do it with zero promise that it will pay off with a moment like the one the Huskies got to enjoy Saturday.

So when that work pays off for everyone to see? When a moment like the one we saw Saturday arrives with no warning? It moves me. I suspect it moves you, too.

It’s why everyone in America with a microphone wants to talk to Hammock, the 43-year-old coaching in his sixth season at NIU, in the aftermath of Saturday’s shocker. He earned just over $677,000 last season to work just as hard as Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman, who earned over $6.5 million in 2022.

Hammock’s tears resonated with anyone who saw them. How could they not? There’s so much of our day-to-day lives that’s ordinary. Plenty that is artificial.

What Northern Illinois did was extraordinary. It was authentic.

It was beautiful.

It was college football.

 (Photo of Northern Illinois defensive end Jalonnie Williams: Brian Spurlock / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)