Report: Orange Bowl rep to Northern Illinois: "We didn't even want you here"

Northern Illinois will try to pull off an upset against Florida State in the Orange Bowl. (Dave Reginek/Getty Images)

Northern Illinois is a two-touchdown underdog to Florida State in the Orange Bowl and with the internet and expert chatter that they didn't even belong in the game comes a report from CBSSports.com that says the Orange Bowl wasn't too fond of the Huskies playing in the game either.

According to a report, an Orange Bowl representative made it quite clear that Northern Illinois was not the bowl's first choice.

"You guys [NIU] don't even deserve to be here,” the Orange Bowl rep said to the NIU staffer. “We didn't even want you here.”

According to a source, the exchange took place the other night in a hospitality suite. The Orange Bowl rep had compared NIU to Duke, the source said, and the NIU rep responded by pointing out that the Huskies, who are riding a 12-game winning streak, have been to bowl games in five consecutive seasons.

Last month, ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit said it was “a joke” that Northern Illinois earned a BCS spot over teams like Georgia and Oklahoma.