When Northern Illinois’ Orange Bowl bid became official last weekend, Garrett Wolfe didn’t bother watching.

Wolfe, the Huskies’ career leading rusher, had been told by numerous sources earlier in the day that NIU would become the first Mid-American Conference team to earn a BCS berth, making the news moot by the time it was broadcast hours later.

But like the ESPN announcement that sent NIU’s football community into a tizzy, the fact the program Wolfe helped construct into a championship contender had reached such a pinnacle didn’t surprise Wolfe.