On Jan. 1 the football team engaged in possibly the single largest event in school history: the Orange Bowl.

There may have been other events that put NIU in the public eye, but perhaps not in the most positive manner.

As much as NIU is an institution of learning, the following and status of college sports, especially football, is huge and cannot be dismissed.

The football team became the first MAC school to ever qualify for a BCS bowl game. The team showed its talent by getting five of last year’s graduated players signed into the NFL, while its opponent, Florida State, had 11 players taken in the draft.

Despite the success of being able to make it to the game, junior quarterback Jordan Lynch put the game itself behind him long ago.

“I gave it the 24-hour rule,” Lynch said. “I don’t think any of us have really thought about it too much.”

Senior receiver Martel Moore believes chemistry was a strong suit of the team. He thinks it was a contributing factor in the players finding the success they did last season.

”Our team is a family, 110 brothers,” Moore said. “And every year since I came to NIU, it’s been that way, so our chemistry was great and will always be.”

The game did not put the school in a hole financially, as the MAC stepped up and helped foot the expenses so NIU would not be punished for succeeding.

What may be a sour taste from the results of the game does not diminish the accomplishments along the way, the experience of the players and fans and the benefits the whole season can bring back to the university and the team itself.