DETROIT, Mich. -- Trailing by as many as 19 points late in the third quarter, the Northern Illinois University Huskies rallied to win the Mid-American Conference Championship game over Buffalo, 30-29, on Friday night at Ford Field. NIU took its first lead of the game with 1:09 to play as the Huskies captured their fourth MAC title in eight seasons. 

NIU scored the final 20 points of the game, culminating in a 35-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Marcus Childers (Adairsville, Ga./Adairsville) to senior D.J. Brown (North Little Rock, Ark./North Little Rock) as the Huskies completed the comeback. 

Childers finished the game 21-of-33 passing for a career high 300 yards and four touchdowns while also gaining 58 yards on 15 carries, and was named the game's Offensive MVP. Junior Sutton Smith (Saint Charles, Mo./Francis Howell) was named the MAC Championship Game Defensive MVP after finishing with 10 tackles, including a pair of sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss. 

"Winning championships is hard and I am so proud of these guys, these student-athletes," said NIU head coach Rod Carey. "I'm proud of my coaches too … in all my years of coaching this is my favorite group to be around, and I've won championships before. 

"There was never a time when the defense was struggling in the first half that the offense didn't believe that the defense wouldn't get it straightened out. When we were down 29-10, there was never a time that the defense didn't think the offense wasn't going to get it done. That belief goes a long way when you are talking about execution against a really good football team."

Trailing 29-10 late in the third quarter, Childers hit Brown for their first touchdown connection of the night, a 28-yard score, as the Huskies pulled within a dozen with 17 seconds left in the third. NIU had to go just 34 yards on the drive as back-to-back sacks from senior Josh Corcoran (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville South) had pushed Buffalo back to its own 5-yard line on the previous drive. 

The NIU defense, which allowed just 46 yards in the fourth quarter, came up with a three-and-out to give the ball right back to the offense, which needed just four plays to score again. 

Junior Spencer Tears (Chicago, Ill./H.L. Richards) hauled in a 32-yard touchdown pass from Childers, his second touchdown grab of the night, as NIU cut the Buffalo lead to 29-24 with 12:51 to play. On the first play of the drive, Childers stood strong in the pocket to find redshirt freshman Cole Tucker (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) for 19 yards to ignite the drive. Three plays later, the Huskie signal caller found Tears down the left sideline for the score. 

Tears had six catches for 73 yards and two touchdowns in the contest. 

"We stayed together as a family," said Tears of the team's resolve to come back.  "Everybody locked in. Everyone stated positive.  There was no negative energy.  We were staying together, knowing we could come through." 

Following a pair of punts by Buffalo and one by NIU, the Huskies got the ball back with 3:20 to play at their own 30-yard line. 

Facing third-and-10 at the NIU 42, Childers found junior Marcus Jones (Chicago, Ill./Brother Rice) for 12 yards to keep the drive alive. After an 11-yard connection to junior Mitchell Brinkman (Council Bluffs, Iowa/Lewis Center) for another first down, Childers looked to Brown down the right side and the senior hauled in a 35-yard score as NIU took its first lead, 30-29, with 1:09 to play. 

Needing to go 75 yards in 69 seconds, Buffalo picked up a pair of first downs and reached the NIU 41, but the Huskie defense forced four-straight incompletions as the Bulls turned the ball over on downs and NIU claimed its fifth MAC Championship. 

Buffalo scored first on its opening drive of the game. The Bulls went 94 yards, benefited by a pass interference penalty on a third down near midfield, while also converting a fourth and one on the drive. Kevin Marks capped the drive with a three-yard touchdown run to give the Bulls a 7-0 lead. 

On its second drive of the night, the Bulls used another 94-yard drive to take a 13-0 lead. Tyree Jackson found Anthony Johnson for a 13-yard touchdown pass, the point after was missed as Buffalo led by 13 with early in the second quarter. 

Jackson was 18-of-35 passing in the game for 252 yards and a pair of touchdowns; Johnson caught seven passes for 124 yards and two scores. 

NIU came back on the ensuing drive with its first score of the night as Childers connected with Tears who made an outstanding, one-handed catch for a 13-yard touchdown as the Huskies cut the Buffalo lead to 13-7. 

The Bulls answered right back as Jackson connected with Johnson again for a 26-yard touchdown pass as Buffalo extended its lead to 19-7 with 5:41 to play in the second quarter. The touchdown pass capped a nine-play, 75-yard drive for Buffalo, but the two-point conversion attempt for the Bulls failed. 

A 39-yard field goal from senior Andrew Gantz (Dayton, Ohio/Centerville) was matched by a 22-yard Buffalo field goal with three seconds to play in the half as the Bulls took a 22-10 lead into halftime.

The Bulls took their largest lead of the night on their first drive of the second half as Buffalo marched 75 yards in eight plays to open the half with a touchdown. Jaret Patterson finished the drive with a nine-yard scoring run as Buffalo increased its lead to 29-10 with 11:25 to play in the third quarter. 

Buffalo maintained that 19-point advantage until late in the quarter when Childers hit Brown for the score that began the NIU comeback. 

Brown finished the game with four catches for 84 yards and two touchdowns. 

With the victory, NIU improves to 8-5 overall and will find out its bowl destination on Sunday, December 2.