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NIU Student Hit the Road for the Orange Bowl

Posted: 4:03 PM Dec 30, 2012
Reporter: Landon Cassman

David Eble and his friends have gone to every NIU football game this season, which is why they weren't going to pass on the chance to see their team play in the Orange Bowl.

"It'll be something I'll always remember when looking back at college," said Eble. "So I'm glad we could make it to a BCS game."

Eble is one of 1,300 Northern Illinois University students who packed into 26 buses this morning for a 24-hour drive to Miami, Florida.

"I don't even know what to expect," said grad student Tom Kilinski. "This is my first long, long roadtrip. But I'm not driving so, that'll be good."

Students only had to pay 150 dollars for the trip, which includes meals, a hotel stay, and tickets to the school's first ever bowl game appearance.

"It means something that we've come this far," said student Mandy Schlegel. "With NIU making all its improvements and the athletic department becoming such a big deal now, and NIU doing so good. It's a big deal to be a part of this and you know not being a person that comes on later, being there while it's happening is really cool."

Though the team is the underdog going into the game, many students are confident the Huskies will defeat the Florida State Seminoles.

"I think we got a good chance," said junior Dustin King. "We're the underdogs and, you know, that's the whole point. I think you got to believe in the underdogs. You know, know one expects in us to win except for ourselves, and we're going to put on a show."

Soon we'll know whether the Huskies are the top dog in college football.