College Football Week 3 takeaways: NIU wins on its bye week and the Illini's next step

Tina Nguyen goes 100 yards with NIU head coach Thomas Hammock

Thomas Hammock's phone lines have been pretty busy this week. That's what happens after you upset No. 5 Notre Dame. FOX 32's Tina Nguyen catches up with Hammock after his historic weekend.

Week 3 of college football had some redemption, some progress and one team just sitting pretty and relaxing while they kept earning more brownie points.

Notre Dame, Northwestern and Illinois all won. The best story, though, remained NIU.

Here are our takeaways from the third week of college football, where Notre Dame might have earned its redemption but Northern Illinois kept winning all the same.

The Illini are right where they want to be

This was the season where the Illini were supposed to make their move. They're on the cusp of it all.

After beating down Central Michigan this week, Illinois is now 3-0 with a ranked win over Kansas under its belt. Next up: a Friday night date with No. 22 Nebraska in Lincoln.

If you're an Illini fan, this is the one you need to win.

Illinois needs a win that propels it out of mediocrity and into the Big Ten conversation. Winning over a good Nebraska in one of the conference's most hostile environments would be that win.

Luke Altmeyer got his bearings the last two weeks, but his composure will be tested. Illinois has proven its defense can take care of business, and the offense has the playmakers to put up points.

Having the tools is step one; step two is getting the job done. The Illini are in a position to do exactly that.

Notre Dame bounced back, but still falls flat

The Irish played four quarterbacks against Purdue, led 42-0 at halftime and their starting quarterback did not throw a touchdown pass.

It was a 66-7 romp that was as stylish as they come. It still doesn't absolve the team from what happened last weekend.

You can't have playoff aspirations and lose to Northern Illinois. The way ND dropped 66 points looked methodical. How that didn't happen against the Huskies is still the question that head coach Marcus Freeman didn't have to answer Saturday, but he has to make sure it doesn't happen again.

"I think it's a choice that we all have to make as individuals," Freeman said. "It's my job to make sure we have a culture that doesn't accept any less than that."

Winning an in-state rivalry game is good for Freeman. There are still some questions to answer, such as: why hasn't starting quarterback Riley Leonard thrown a touchdown through three games?

The Irish quelled any worries quickly on Saturday. More wins like Saturday will help absolve the NIU loss, too, especially if NIU stays ranked. It'll never truly erase the sting, though.

If this Notre Dame team showed up last week, we're not having this kind of dialogue. It didn't, and not even a 59-point win erases the sting from last week's loss.

Northern Illinois stayed winning

It's not often a team can sit back and smile as it earns more respect from the college football world.

But, the Huskies did exactly that Saturday.

After a week where NIU did a victory lap and had visits from every TV station in Chicago after their shocking win over Notre Dame, the Huskies kicked their feet up during their idle week.

With every point Notre Dame scored against Purdue, NIU only looked better. Purdue wasn't an FCS school, it was a Big Ten team. The Huskies were idle and watched as the team they held to 14 points ran it up against the Boilermakers.

Sure, it helped that Notre Dame found out it could use Jeremiyah Love to great effect. It also helped out the defense forced turnovers, something that didn't happen against NIU.

None of that matters since it just didn't happen last week, NIU got the monstrous upset and will have an inside track at a great bowl game if the Huskies keep winning.

Sitting at 2-0 and No. 25, it wouldn't be surprising if NIU moved up in the next top 25 after Boston College fell to Missouri.

It was a great weekend for NIU.