Huskies scores national acclaim
with victory over Maryland

by Joe King

The Huskies hit the big time Thursday night, exploding on the national football scene with their 20-13 upset of No. 14 Maryland.

Actually, the Huskies burst on the scene much earlier in the day when the USA Today Sports section featured running back Michael “The Burner” Turner as its front page feature story. It was the highlight of a wave of pre-game publicity that included stories in every major newspaper in Chicago, Rockford and the suburbs.

It was the start of a whirlwind that would conclude Monday morning when, for the first time in recent memories, the Huskies received votes in both major national football rankings, coming it at No. 33 in the ESPN/USA Today poll, and No. 30 in the Associated Press Poll.

By 6:30 p.m. Thursday, the media frenzy reached yet another peak when Fox Sports Net went live to Huskie Stadium, giving sports fans nationwide (a potential viewership of nearly 95 million homes) their first glimpse of more than 28,000 screaming NIU fans packed into Huskie Stadium. It was the first sellout at the stadium since the construction of the east grandstand in 1995.

Sports Information Director Mike Korcek said a record number of press passes were issued for the game. Representatives from more than 40 different media outlets – newspapers, Web sites, magazines, television and radio stations – were on hand to watch the game, including writers from the Tribune, Sun-Times, Washington Post, Baltimore Sun and USA Today.

They were treated to a pitched battle that went into overtime, culminating in what the Aurora Beacon News dubbed “The Immaculate Deflection” – a potential game-tying end zone pass that bounced off of the leg of defensive back Rob Lee and into the hands of fellow Huskie Randee Drew to end the game.

That breathtaking finish pushed the Huskie hype to even higher levels.

Almost before the cheering at Huskie Stadium had died down, the Drew interception was being featured on ESPN as the play of the day in their daily Top 10. Wideout P.J. Fleck’s diving touchdown catch, earlier in the game, ranked third on that list.

By Friday morning, the Huskies were national news. As one of only two Thursday night games in the nation featuring a Top 25 team, the story was featured in virtually every sports section in the country, all with headlines trumpeting the Huskies victory, using adjectives such as “stunning” and “shocking.”

Locally, Fox Sport Net Chicago reported that the game drew an average local rating of 1.31 over the course of the evening. Viewership peaked during the fourth quarter and overtime at 2.81. To put those numbers in perspective, the game between third-ranked Miami and Louisiana Tech, which aired opposite the NIU game on ESPN, garnered a rating of 0.39 in Chicago.

“My congratulations go out to Coach Novak and his team, Athletic Director Cary Groth and to Sports Information Director Mike Korcek,” NIU President John Peters said. “Thursday’s game was an almost once-in-a-lifetime chance to put the university on display nationally, and they made the most of this opportunity. The value of such positive publicity can not be overrated and I commend them for all they did to put NIU in the best possible light. Hopefully, it will be the first of many such opportunities.”

9-2-03