Standing on the “E” in the back of the Toledo end zone with the ball at the NIU 1-yard line, quarterback Jordan Lynch made a statement with a memorable Heisman moment.

Lynch orchestrated a 15-play drive that totaled 104 yards, due to a 5-yard false start penalty. The drive culminated in Lynch diving head-first into the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown to put the Huskies up two scores, 28-17, with 9:42 remaining in the fourth quarter.

On the drive, Lynch ran the ball seven times for 62 yards and converted on three huge third downs.

“We work on it every day in practice, going 99 yards, and we never flinch,” Lynch said. “We believe in the process, we believe in the journey, and we believe in the coaches’ play calling. We knew we were going to go right down and score.”

Lynch had the NIU offense rolling the whole second half as he led the Huskies on four touchdown drives, including his 1-yard touchdown run.

He and the Huskies opened up the second half with an 85-yard touchdown drive, resulting in a 12-yard touchdown run by Lynch. This gave the Huskies a 14-10 lead. Following a Toledo touchdown, Lynch was back at it again as he broke his longest run of the night for a 31-yard touchdown run on a cutback run to give the Huskies the lead for good.

Lynch was held in check for the first half of the game, running for just 30 yards in the first half. In the second half, Lynch and the Huskies figured out the Toledo defense.

Lynch burned the Rockets for 131 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns, giving him 161 rushing yards in the game. Lynch also added 202 passing yards with only five incompletions, without his top two targets: junior wide outs Da’Ron Brown and Tommylee Lewis.

“…Your seniors and your players need to play in big games, and he’s obviously meant a lot to us the last two years, and he’s come to play in big games,” said coach Rod Carey in a radio interview.