NIU students head to Miami to cheer on Huskies in Orange Bowl
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CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) -
The Northern Illinois Huskies play the biggest football game in school history Tuesday night.
They'll face off against the Florida State Seminoles in the Orange Bowl.
More than 1,300 students were expected to arrive in Miami New Year's Eve, to watch the game on Jan. 1. They boarded 26 buses Sunday for the 24 hour trip.
This will be a David versus Goliath match-up. NIU is a double digit underdog.
Florida State's biggest weakness heading into their Orange Bowl game against Northern Illinois might be Midwestern geography.
The Seminoles concede they'd be hard-pressed to locate their opponent in an atlas.
Cue the cliche: A victory Tuesday night would put Northern Illinois on the map. The No. 16-ranked Huskies have been widely derided as unworthy of a BCS bowl berth, which makes them eager for validation when they face No. 13 Florida State.
Northern Illinois (12-1) is the first Mid-American Conference team to play in the Bowl Championship Series. The Huskies made it when they cracked the top 16 in the final standings by 0.0404 points.
Until kickoff, it's impossible to know how seriously Florida State (11-2) will take a supposedly unimposing opponent.
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Forecasters say hot weather could give way to violent storms across parts of Illinois and are warning residents to be prepared for strong winds, hail and even tornadoes.
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Glenn Bryant and Derek Thompson scored 14 points apiece and Eastern Michigan's defense stifled Northern Illinois for the second time this season, defeating the Huskies 53-41
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