For a dog a bone is a symbol of achievement, a trophy from the hunt. NIU football coach Dave Doeren has finally earned his first dog-bone.

With the 30-23 victory over Kansas Saturday, the former Kansas coach Doeren finds himself fulfilling a goal of his since first entering his position as head coach at NIU.

Doeren had previously attempted to take down a BCS-caliber team three time in the last two seasons and come up short in each of those contests. He is 0-2 at Soldier Field as he lost to Iowa earlier this season and Wisconsin last season. He was also on the other end of the spectrum last season as he was defeated by Kansas.

“It doesn’t mean anything from the Kansas part of it,” Doeren said. “Winning a BCS game is what that’s about for me. I want a piece of history in our locker-room. I saw the MAC championship banner we put up last year that we earned. I never got to see a dog-bone with my signature on it and now I have that.”

NIU football has a tradition of awarding these dog-bones for victories over BCS teams, in other words, teams who have automatic qualifying spots to attend bowl games.

This victory over Kansas has raised the total of “bone-yard” victories for NIU to 11, with the first of its kind coming in 1983 against Kansas as well. The last time NIU earned a win of this caliber came on Sept. 25, 2010 against Minnesota.

Doeren credits his aggressive nature and his team’s aggressive nature—for that matter—for finding success in the victory over Kansas

“I’m an aggressive personality,” Doeren said. “I told our offense and defense coaches, ‘don’t hold back.’ Play like we’re supposed to play. Take shots, blitz and come after them.”

Doeren let the metaphorical meaning of the bone drive home his determination, but also found use of the physical bone as well.

“I carried the bone with me everywhere but the bedroom this week,” Doeren said. “Every meeting we had I’d be banging on the walls with the bone. I don’t have to do that anymore. We’ll get one made up, we’ll put it up on the wall, and it’s a piece of history like any other win. It’s something we wanted to accomplish and felt that we should at home.”