Northeastern Huskies (2002)

I hate to drag the phrase "fake news" here, but let's face it: Preseason polls are generally "fake news." They're mostly based on how teams did last season, with no regard to who's returning, who's left, etc. Maybe it's because I'm steaming that my Black Bears were picked to finish ninth in the CAA preseason poll. (If Maine finishes ninth or lower in 2021, I promise to do a post on the worst team in Maine history, and I think I know which one it is, by far.)

OK, rant over. Let's look at a team that was picked to finish next-to-last in its league in August, and celebrated a league title in November: The 2002 Northeastern Huskies, the only championship team in the program's 77-year history.

The Team: Picked to finish 10th out of 11 teams in the Atlantic 10 (formerly Yankee Conference, now CAA), Northeastern shocked the league by going 10-3 overall, 7-2 in league play to share the A-10 title with defending co-champ Maine (which was picked second in the preseason poll). The Huskies shut out their first two opponents, including a 31-0 shellacking of I-A (FBS) Ohio U. The two league losses were to Delaware and William & Mary. (Oddly, Northeastern and Maine didn't play each other in '02 despite their geographic closeness.) The season ended with a 29-24 loss to Fordham in the NCAA I-AA (FCS) tournament, only the second postseason game in Northeastern's history and the first since a 27-6 loss to East Carolina in the 1963 Eastern Bowl.

The 2003 Northeastern media guide showcases
many of the stars from the '02 season.

The Players: Running back Tim Gale set a single-season school record with 16 touchdowns and tied another with 96 points and was named first-team all A-10, as was OL John McDonald. In the air, quarterback Shawn Brady (isn't that a character on Days of Our Lives?) threw 16 touchdown passes. Linebacker Liam Ezekiel set a school record with 145 tackles and one of three Huskies named all A-10 on defense, along with DL Steve Anzalone and DB Art Smith. Kicker Miro Kesic (first-team all A-10), scored 85 points, fifth most in school history. 

The Coach: I wrote about Don Brown in this post several months back. These days, he's the defensive coordinator at the University of Arizona. (Triviata: Brown started his career in 1978 as an assistant as Hartford (Vt.) High School, a couple TD passes from where I used to live, and was later defensive coordinator at Dartmouth College.)

A 2002 Northeastern program.

The Uniforms: After wearing some pretty ugly unis in 2001, Northeastern went to a look more reminiscent of what it wore in the 90s, with all black at home and all white on the road. The rather busy helmet logo from '01 remained. (The Huskies switched to a simpler block "N" in '04.) 

The Fallout: The 2003 Huskies were picked to win the A-10 (see what I mean about predictions based upon the previous year's results?), and Street & Smith (remember them?) had Northeastern No. 1 in the nation. While the Huskies failed to meet those lofty forecasts, they still finished 8-4 and were ranked Nos. 20 and 19 in the final polls while missing the NCAA tourney. Northeastern never had another winning record before the program was shut down in 2009.