Irish Breakdown

LISTEN: Northern Illinois Radio Call of Epic Notre Dame Upset

This was only Andy Garcia's second game ever as the play-by-play voice of the Northern Illinois Huskies
Nick Shepkowski|
Sep 7, 2024; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Northern Illinois Huskies running back Antario Brown (1) celebrates after the Huskies defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 16-14 at Notre Dame Stadium.
Sep 7, 2024; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Northern Illinois Huskies running back Antario Brown (1) celebrates after the Huskies defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 16-14 at Notre Dame Stadium. | Matt Cashore-Imagn Images

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Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Imagine working your tail off for an entire career and on a Saturday afternoon at Notre Dame Stadium, everything you have worked for came to a head.

Although I could be talking about Northern Illinois head coach Thomas Hammock, I'm not.

I'm instead talking about Northern Illinois football play-by-play voice Andy Garcia.

I'll be transparent and let you know that Andy was the first person that hired me for a sports media internship, doing so in what led to a start in sports radio for myself.

Andy has worked in radio production and by doing play-by-play for years and years trying to work his way up. He's worked for a while now at Northern Illinois but just this season finally got the promotion to the football play-by-play voice of the Huskies.

This comes after years and years working his way up, something I watched rather closely at times.

Friday night high school football and basketball games.

Junior college basketball games near and far.

All to have a chance to one day be the play-by-play voice of a team,

On Saturday afternoon in South Bend, Garcia called the Huskies' upset of Notre Dame in just his second game with the title. It sounded like this:

Congrats, Andy.

I'm proud and happy for you in many, many ways.

Now go celebrate with some Chipotle.

Notre Dame on Sports Illustrated


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Nick Shepkowski
NICK SHEPKOWSKI

Managing Editor for Notre Dame On SI. Started covering Chicago sports teams for WSCR the Score, and over the years worked with CBS Radio, Audacy, NBC Sports, and FOX Sports as a contributor before running the Notre Dame wire site for USA TODAY.

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