November 26, 2025 • 9 mins
This episode dives into the incredible story of Northern Illinois quarterback Jordan Lynch and the 2013 season when he shattered what a college QB was “supposed” to be. Listeners will relive his record-breaking rushing performances, including the historic 321-yard game against Western Michigan that set the NCAA single-game rushing mark for a quarterback, and the 316-yard explosion versus Central Michigan that started his legend. The show also explores Lynch’s underdog rise, NIU’s ascent as a MAC power, and how his dual-threat dominance helped redefine the modern quarterback role.
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Listen now! 👉 DailySportsHistory.com 📲 Follow for more daily sports history insights!
Email: dailysportshistory@gmail.com
YouTube: YouTube.com/@dailysportshistory
Twitter: twitter.com/dailysportshis
Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551687917253&mibextid=ZbWKwL
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On November twenty sixth, twenty thirteen, Jordan Lynch, the quarterback
of the Northern Illinois Huskies, plays a game where he
runs the ball for three hundred and twenty yards, setting
the record for the most yards by quarterback in a
single game, and he ended up having one of the
most all around best seasons by a player in college football,
(00:21):
finishing third in the Heisman voting. At a smaller Division
I school, it may have been the greatest season of
all time. And we're going to take you back through
his season and how this incredible game happened today on
Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Rees your guide because the
(00:47):
most I've ever ran in my life, it's for three
hundred yards. So have you never heard of Jordan Lynch?
That It's okay, Honestly, unless you were a big college
football fan or you grew up in the Chicago area,
you probably have not heard of him. He's often forgot about,
(01:10):
as a lot of players from small schools who do
amazing things do get forgotten about. But some of the
greatest players of all time have come from small schools,
such as Jerry Rice or Walter Payton. And Northern Illinois
isn't as small of a school as you might think.
So Jordan grew up just outside of Chicago and he
attended Mount Carmo High School, which is one of the
(01:32):
better high school football teams in the States, and he
was a varsity player there for three years, running a
very run, heavy wing tea type offense. Now, over time,
they actually allowed him to pass a little bit more
because he was so good at it for the team,
but they really relied on his rushing ability. So after
he was getting close to the end of his senior season,
(01:54):
he really wanted to continue to be a quarterback, and
so he went to all all the camps he could.
If you don't know in college, there are camps across
the country. Usually most colleges have a camp, and there's
some other like pro style camps that are around for
high school kids to come learn and also they get
(02:16):
the chance to showcase who they are in front of
some actual college coaches, because as a former college coach,
we actually can supplement our income by doing these camps.
Some of them pay money, some of them give room
and board, some of them just give swag. Some of
them gives you good connections for continuing your career. So
these camps are great things for college coaches to move
on in their career and great for kids to make
(02:38):
an impact and a name for themselves in these coaches' minds.
So that's what he did. He went to all these
different ones, and he went to one at Northern Illinois,
and he kept getting the same response. He was barely
six foot weighing two hundred pounds, which was not what
people want as a quarterback. They want someone six two
six three six four. That's the prototypical size either for
a quarterback, but at smaller D one schools they are
(03:00):
willing to look differently if that player is for the
accurate or has intangils. And he was showing off his
intangibles at these camps, catching the eye of smaller Division
one schools, especially in the MAC schools such as Ball
State in Northern Illinois, and based off a recommendation from
his high school coach, a legend in Chicago, Frank Lnty,
(03:21):
the coach Jerry Kill from Northern Illinois offered his scholarship
to Jordan and offered it with the chance of he
could play quarterback. That didn't go well, maybe he would
move to running back. In Northern Illinois, although they are
part of the MAC which means they are not a
major conference in Division one, they are Division one, which
means they give out fourth scholarships. And they've been around
(03:42):
since eighteen ninety nine, being one of the oldest programs
in the Midwest, and then they joined the Mid America
Conference in nineteen seventy three, and over the years they
had gained eight conference championships, and in nineteen sixty three
they actually won the College Division National Championship, which is
a lower championship in the National Championship. And they have
played in sixteen bowl games throughout their career, including an
(04:05):
upset in twenty twenty four at the famous Idaho take
A Bowl where they upset Fresno State, winning in double overtime.
And they have continuously produced many different athletes that have
made it to the NFL or CFL level. So he
was coming into a school who was known for having football.
They may not be the best, but it was a
good program, and he arrived determined to prove that he
(04:28):
could be a quarterback. And he came in and Chandler
Harshness was the starting quarterback, So he came up and
back upped him, learning and building his quarterback skills to
go along with his athletic skills, and Lynch waited patiently
for his moment to shine. In his first two seasons,
he was able to get in in backup situations and
passed for one hundred and seventy nine yards and two touchdowns,
(04:51):
but he was also able to get in there on
random plays to rush the ball because he had a
great knack for running the ball, and in those first
two seasons he ran for over six undred yards and
six touchdowns. And then in twenty twelve, he became the
starting quarterback for the Northern Illinois Huskies and then went
on to revolutionize the game for the Northern Illinois as
(05:14):
that first year, he rushed for eighteen hundred and fifteen yards,
breaking the record for the most rushing yards by a quarterback,
and he had three thousand yards, twenty five touchdowns, and
only six interceptions. This was good enough for him to
break out and finished seventh in Heisman voting. He came
out and blew everyone away, and he was a junior,
which meant he was coming back for a senior season,
(05:37):
and his senior season did not disappoint him because he
had the team going undefeated when they came out to
Eastern Michigan, fueled by Lynch leading this offense to get
the ball in the end zone at any cost. And
this night he would go on to break another record
when he rushed for over three hundred and sixteen yards
(05:57):
on the ground, scoring three touchdowns, breaking the record for
the most rushing yards by a quarterback. He would also
add in one hundred and fifteen passing yards in a touchdown,
becoming the first player also to pass four hundred yards
as well as rush for one hundred yards in a
single game. Now he brought this team in breaking fourteenth
(06:19):
in the nation. They were undefeated, and at this time
this was still the BCS era, so if you could
go undefeated, you had a shot at maybe making it
to the National Championship or at least a BCS game.
So on November twenty sixth, twenty thirteen, at the collb
Illinois Husky Stadium, Western Michigan came in to deface the
(06:42):
undefeated Northern Illinois and in the first half, Lynch just exploded,
finding hole after hole, rushing for two hundred and twenty
nine yards in two touchdowns, including multiple twenty plus runs.
He finished the game which is thirty nine past yards,
but he did throw for one touchdown, but on the
ground he ran for three touchdowns and three hundred and
(07:06):
twenty nine yards, breaks his own record, including a run
of sixty seven yards for touchdown, showcasing that it wasn't
just him bumbling out there. He had speed to go
break big plays, and he led the team to an
undefeated regular season twelve and oh. So they're ranked in
(07:26):
the top ten and they headed into the MAC Championship
game facing Bowling Green, and unfortunately, Jordan didn't have a
great game and they end up losing this game, and
the Huskies go played in the Point Stia Bowl and
lose again. So a perfect regular season zero to two
in the finals. So it's a down note for Jordan
Lynch's career. But he ended up this season with twenty
(07:48):
eight hundred passing yards twenty four touchdowns to eight interceptions,
as well as nineteen hundred rushing yards, breaking his previous
record the year before in twenty three touchdowns. And this
year he gets invited to New York for the Heisman
Trophy ceremony, where he finished his third but would be
voted in first team All American as an All purpose player,
(08:10):
which he really was, and unfortunately, his record for the
most yards in a single season would be broken in
twenty nineteen by Malcolm Perry of Navy, who was the
first quarterback to rush for over two thousand yards in
a single season. Then he would go undrafted because he
still wanted to beat a quarterback. Although his skills at
quarterback were still a little suspect. His arms, strength and
(08:33):
accuracy was always in question, but the Chicago Bears gave
him a chance. They gave it to him as a
running back. They signed him as an undrafted free agent.
He came into training camp but would later be cut,
and the following year he would join the Edmonton Eskimos
of the Canadian Football League and he would go on
to score the game winning touchdown for the Eskimos to
(08:53):
win the twenty fifteen Great Cup, and he played a
few seasons up there before retiring in twenty seventeen from
professional football and joining Northern Illinois as an assistant coach. Then,
following that, he would go on to become the head
coach of his alma mater, Mount Carmel, where he has
led them to four state championship in his career and
(09:16):
he still is today. So I went from a legend
in college football back to being a legend in high school.
Just shows you you may not end up where you
want to be, but sometimes you end up in the
right place. I want to thank you for listening to
this story. If you enjoyed it, please make sure you
share it with a friend. Hit that little square with
the arrow button and share it to a buddy. Say
(09:37):
do you remember this guy? Because I don't. And come
back tomorrow for more daily sports history.
On November twenty sixth, twenty thirteen, Jordan Lynch, the quarterback
of the Northern Illinois Huskies, plays a game where he
runs the ball for three hundred and twenty yards, setting
the record for the most yards by quarterback in a
single game, and he ended up having one of the
most all around best seasons by a player in college football,
(00:21):
finishing third in the Heisman voting. At a smaller Division
I school, it may have been the greatest season of
all time. And we're going to take you back through
his season and how this incredible game happened today on
Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Rees your guide because the
(00:47):
most I've ever ran in my life, it's for three
hundred yards. So have you never heard of Jordan Lynch?
That It's okay, Honestly, unless you were a big college
football fan or you grew up in the Chicago area,
you probably have not heard of him. He's often forgot about,
(01:10):
as a lot of players from small schools who do
amazing things do get forgotten about. But some of the
greatest players of all time have come from small schools,
such as Jerry Rice or Walter Payton. And Northern Illinois
isn't as small of a school as you might think.
So Jordan grew up just outside of Chicago and he
attended Mount Carmo High School, which is one of the
(01:32):
better high school football teams in the States, and he
was a varsity player there for three years, running a
very run, heavy wing tea type offense. Now, over time,
they actually allowed him to pass a little bit more
because he was so good at it for the team,
but they really relied on his rushing ability. So after
he was getting close to the end of his senior season,
(01:54):
he really wanted to continue to be a quarterback, and
so he went to all all the camps he could.
If you don't know in college, there are camps across
the country. Usually most colleges have a camp, and there's
some other like pro style camps that are around for
high school kids to come learn and also they get
(02:16):
the chance to showcase who they are in front of
some actual college coaches, because as a former college coach,
we actually can supplement our income by doing these camps.
Some of them pay money, some of them give room
and board, some of them just give swag. Some of
them gives you good connections for continuing your career. So
these camps are great things for college coaches to move
on in their career and great for kids to make
(02:38):
an impact and a name for themselves in these coaches' minds.
So that's what he did. He went to all these
different ones, and he went to one at Northern Illinois,
and he kept getting the same response. He was barely
six foot weighing two hundred pounds, which was not what
people want as a quarterback. They want someone six two
six three six four. That's the prototypical size either for
a quarterback, but at smaller D one schools they are
(03:00):
willing to look differently if that player is for the
accurate or has intangils. And he was showing off his
intangibles at these camps, catching the eye of smaller Division
one schools, especially in the MAC schools such as Ball
State in Northern Illinois, and based off a recommendation from
his high school coach, a legend in Chicago, Frank Lnty,
(03:21):
the coach Jerry Kill from Northern Illinois offered his scholarship
to Jordan and offered it with the chance of he
could play quarterback. That didn't go well, maybe he would
move to running back. In Northern Illinois, although they are
part of the MAC which means they are not a
major conference in Division one, they are Division one, which
means they give out fourth scholarships. And they've been around
(03:42):
since eighteen ninety nine, being one of the oldest programs
in the Midwest, and then they joined the Mid America
Conference in nineteen seventy three, and over the years they
had gained eight conference championships, and in nineteen sixty three
they actually won the College Division National Championship, which is
a lower championship in the National Championship. And they have
played in sixteen bowl games throughout their career, including an
(04:05):
upset in twenty twenty four at the famous Idaho take
A Bowl where they upset Fresno State, winning in double overtime.
And they have continuously produced many different athletes that have
made it to the NFL or CFL level. So he
was coming into a school who was known for having football.
They may not be the best, but it was a
good program, and he arrived determined to prove that he
(04:28):
could be a quarterback. And he came in and Chandler
Harshness was the starting quarterback, So he came up and
back upped him, learning and building his quarterback skills to
go along with his athletic skills, and Lynch waited patiently
for his moment to shine. In his first two seasons,
he was able to get in in backup situations and
passed for one hundred and seventy nine yards and two touchdowns,
(04:51):
but he was also able to get in there on
random plays to rush the ball because he had a
great knack for running the ball, and in those first
two seasons he ran for over six undred yards and
six touchdowns. And then in twenty twelve, he became the
starting quarterback for the Northern Illinois Huskies and then went
on to revolutionize the game for the Northern Illinois as
(05:14):
that first year, he rushed for eighteen hundred and fifteen yards,
breaking the record for the most rushing yards by a quarterback,
and he had three thousand yards, twenty five touchdowns, and
only six interceptions. This was good enough for him to
break out and finished seventh in Heisman voting. He came
out and blew everyone away, and he was a junior,
which meant he was coming back for a senior season,
(05:37):
and his senior season did not disappoint him because he
had the team going undefeated when they came out to
Eastern Michigan, fueled by Lynch leading this offense to get
the ball in the end zone at any cost. And
this night he would go on to break another record
when he rushed for over three hundred and sixteen yards
(05:57):
on the ground, scoring three touchdowns, breaking the record for
the most rushing yards by a quarterback. He would also
add in one hundred and fifteen passing yards in a touchdown,
becoming the first player also to pass four hundred yards
as well as rush for one hundred yards in a
single game. Now he brought this team in breaking fourteenth
(06:19):
in the nation. They were undefeated, and at this time
this was still the BCS era, so if you could
go undefeated, you had a shot at maybe making it
to the National Championship or at least a BCS game.
So on November twenty sixth, twenty thirteen, at the collb
Illinois Husky Stadium, Western Michigan came in to deface the
(06:42):
undefeated Northern Illinois and in the first half, Lynch just exploded,
finding hole after hole, rushing for two hundred and twenty
nine yards in two touchdowns, including multiple twenty plus runs.
He finished the game which is thirty nine past yards,
but he did throw for one touchdown, but on the
ground he ran for three touchdowns and three hundred and
(07:06):
twenty nine yards, breaks his own record, including a run
of sixty seven yards for touchdown, showcasing that it wasn't
just him bumbling out there. He had speed to go
break big plays, and he led the team to an
undefeated regular season twelve and oh. So they're ranked in
(07:26):
the top ten and they headed into the MAC Championship
game facing Bowling Green, and unfortunately, Jordan didn't have a
great game and they end up losing this game, and
the Huskies go played in the Point Stia Bowl and
lose again. So a perfect regular season zero to two
in the finals. So it's a down note for Jordan
Lynch's career. But he ended up this season with twenty
(07:48):
eight hundred passing yards twenty four touchdowns to eight interceptions,
as well as nineteen hundred rushing yards, breaking his previous
record the year before in twenty three touchdowns. And this
year he gets invited to New York for the Heisman
Trophy ceremony, where he finished his third but would be
voted in first team All American as an All purpose player,
(08:10):
which he really was, and unfortunately, his record for the
most yards in a single season would be broken in
twenty nineteen by Malcolm Perry of Navy, who was the
first quarterback to rush for over two thousand yards in
a single season. Then he would go undrafted because he
still wanted to beat a quarterback. Although his skills at
quarterback were still a little suspect. His arms, strength and
(08:33):
accuracy was always in question, but the Chicago Bears gave
him a chance. They gave it to him as a
running back. They signed him as an undrafted free agent.
He came into training camp but would later be cut,
and the following year he would join the Edmonton Eskimos
of the Canadian Football League and he would go on
to score the game winning touchdown for the Eskimos to
(08:53):
win the twenty fifteen Great Cup, and he played a
few seasons up there before retiring in twenty seventeen from
professional football and joining Northern Illinois as an assistant coach. Then,
following that, he would go on to become the head
coach of his alma mater, Mount Carmel, where he has
led them to four state championship in his career and
(09:16):
he still is today. So I went from a legend
in college football back to being a legend in high school.
Just shows you you may not end up where you
want to be, but sometimes you end up in the
right place. I want to thank you for listening to
this story. If you enjoyed it, please make sure you
share it with a friend. Hit that little square with
the arrow button and share it to a buddy. Say
(09:37):
do you remember this guy? Because I don't. And come
back tomorrow for more daily sports history.
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