Call Center Company in South Bend, IL

SOUTH BEND — It was a MAC attack for a Notre Dame football home opener Saturday.

In the first ever meeting between the Irish (1-1) — ranked No. 7 in the US LBM Coaches Poll and No. 5 in the AP poll coming in — and unranked Huskies (2-0) of the Mid-American Conference, NIU stunned ND with a 16-13 win.

Here's your instant recap:

Live scoring: Notre Dame football vs. Northern Illinois

FINAL: Northern Illinois 16, Notre Dame 14

0:31 4th Q: Northern Illinois 16, Notre Dame 14

END OF THIRD: Notre Dame 14, Northern Illinois 13

8:34 3rd Q: Notre Dame 14, Northern Illinois 13

Score: Jeremiyah Love 34-yard touchdown run at 8:34 (Mitch Jeter kick)

Drive: Six plays, 64 yards, 2:43 elapsed after Northern Illinois missed field goal

Keys to the drive: Love's run featured a leap over a Northern Illinois defender on his way to the end zone. The only other play to go for 10 or more yards was a 10-yard completion from Riley Leonard to Kris Mitchell.

HALFTIME: Northern Illinois 13, Notre Dame 7

13:39 2nd Q: Northern Illinois 13, Notre Dame 7

Score: Kanon Woodill 21-yard field goal at 13:39

Drive: Five plays, 51 yards, 2:08 elapsed after Notre Dame turnover (interception).

Keys to the drive: A 43-yard pass from Ethan Hampton to Antario Brown on the first play of the drive put the Huskies in scoring position.

End of first: Northern Illinois 10, Notre Dame 7

2:13 1st Q: Northern Illinois 10, Notre Dame 7

Score: Kanon Woodill 42-yard field goal at 2:13

Drive: Five plays, 30 yards, 1:27 elapsed after Notre Dame punt.

Keys to the drive: A 28-yard run by Antario Brown setup the Huskies in field goal position. They had a wide-open touchdown opportunity off a trick play, but wide receiver Trayvon Rudolph threw a bad pass intended for a Northern Illinois wideout near the end zone.

5:35 1st Q: Notre Dame 7, Northern Illinois 7

Score: Ethan Hampton 83-yard touchdown pass to Antario Brown at 5:35 (Kanon Woodill kick)

Drive: Five plays, 98 yards, 2:51 elapsed after Notre Dame kickoff

Keys to the drive: Two Notre Dame defenders collided while going to break up the pass to Brown, with the ball going in between the two into Brown's hands. He ran 60 yards untouched after that for the score.

8:28 1st Q: Notre Dame 7, Northern Illinois 0

Score: Riley Leonard 11-yard touchdown run at 8:28 (Mitch Jeter kick)

Drive: 13 plays, 75 yards, 6:25 elapsed after opening kickoff.

Keys to the drive: The drive featured four designed runs with Leonard, the Notre Dame quarterback, including the last one for the score. A 14-yard pass from Leonard to tight end Mitchell Evans on a 3rd-and-12 was the biggest play of the drive.

3:20 p.m.: Notre Dame football injury report

Pregaming

▶ NOIE: Fiery and focused in opener, Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman sees bigger picture

▶ Keys to the game, predictions for Notre Dame football vs Northern Illinois Saturday

▶ 'That can’t happen.' Notre Dame football WR Beaux Collins learns from rare lapse in judgment

▶ Notre Dame football captain Rylie Mills 'knows who he is,' grows into leadership role

SOUTH BEND — After securing one of its biggest wins of the last 10 years, Notre Dame football returns home to take on Northern Illinois for the first game inside Notre Dame Stadium this fall (3:30 p.m., NBC).

The No. 5 Fighting Irish went into a hostile environment last week, knocking off then-No. 20 Texas A&M, 23-13, in front of the fourth largest crowd in Kyle Field history (107,315). It was the first true road victory in an SEC stadium for Notre Dame since beating Tennessee in 2004.

While A&M might be one of the harder opponents for the Irish, this week’s foe, Northern Illinois, is perceived as one of its easier ones. The Huskies won’t be a complete push-over, though, and Notre Dame has been susceptible to playing close games against opponents they were heavily favored over in recent years (Toledo in 2021, Marshall and California in 2022).

Here are three keys for Notre Dame if they want to improve to 2-0 and continue its march to a College Football Playoff spot on Saturday.

Notre Dame’s offense continues to show progress

Several new faces led to an understandably slow start on offense for Notre Dame against A&M. A young offensive line found its footing in the second half, though, helping the Irish total 198 rushing yards in the game.

Quarterback Riley Leonard became more comfortable throwing the ball as well, completing a huge 20-yard pass to wideout Beaux Collins on the game-winning drive. While his final passing stats looked pedestrian (18-for-30, 158 yards), it was key throws at critical moments that stood out the most in Leonard’s Irish debut.

Facing a Northern Illinois defense in a much tamer environment should allow the Notre Dame offense to grow off its second-half showing against the Aggies.

The Notre Dame defense stays disciplined

When a team like Northern Illinois enters a game as a major underdog, trick plays are inevitable. It’s what helped Idaho nearly beat No. 3 Oregon last week, with the Vandals only trailing by three midway through the fourth quarter.

The Huskies may try and steal the blueprint from Idaho in hopes of keeping this one close. As long as the Irish’s defensive players don’t fall for the misdirection, they should be able to contain the Northern Illinois attack.

Don’t take your foot off the gas pedal

This game shouldn’t be close, especially with how stout the Irish’s defense is. The discussion since the A&M win has been about how easy the Irish’s schedule is the rest of the way. As long as they don’t succumb to its own hype, Notre Dame should be able to cruise to a victory on Saturday.

South Bend Tribune staff picks for game 2 against Northern Illinois

MIKE BERARDINO: Notre Dame 41, NIU 6. Experienced Huskies have upset Boston College (2023) and Georgia Tech (2021) in recent years, but that won’t happen here. Even with the Irish coming off an emotional road win at Texas A&M, the talent gap is just too great.

TOM NOIE: Notre Dame 44, NIU 3. This is the day we see just what this Notre Dame offense can be, and the day we see what this Notre Dame defense is — dominant.

AUSTIN HOUGH: Notre Dame 38, NIU 7. Unfortunately for the Huskies, Jordan Lynch isn’t walking through that door Saturday. The only ones sweating this result will be those who took Notre Dame -28 (or as high as -30, depending on where you look). Onto Purdue.