The 2005 MAC Championship Game was played on December 1, 2005 at
Ford Field
Ford Field is a domed American football stadium located in Downtown Detroit. It primarily serves as the home of the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL), as well as the annual Quick Lane Bowl college football bowl game, state champ ...
in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
,
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
.
The game featured the
Akron Zips
Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...
, winners of the
Mid-American Conference
The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...
East Division, and the
Northern Illinois Huskies
The Northern Illinois Huskies are the athletic teams that represent Northern Illinois University (NIU). The Huskies are a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The athleti ...
, winners of the West Division.
Down 14 points the fourth quarter, the Zips manufactured a comeback. Northern Illinois led by 6 points with 17 seconds remaining in regulation when
Luke Getsy connected with
Domenik Hixon
Domenik Hixon (born October 8, 1984) is a former American football wide receiver and return specialist in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the fourth round of the 2006 NFL Draft. He played college footb ...
on a 36-yard touchdown pass. This and the subsequent successful extra point attempt would prove to be the game winning plays. Their victory earned the Akron football program its first MAC championship and bowl game berth.
References
Championship Game
In sport, a championship is a Competition#Sports, competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match sy ...
MAC Championship Game
Akron Zips football games
Northern Illinois Huskies football games
American football competitions in Detroit
December 2005 sports events in the United States
MAC Championship
2005 in Detroit
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