The 2005 MAC Championship Game was played on December 1, 2005, at

Ford Field Ford Field is a domed American football stadium located in Downtown Detroit. It primarily serves as the home of the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL), the Michigan Panthers of the United Football League (UFL), the Mid-Americ ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. The game featured the

Akron Zips The Akron Zips are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio, United States. The Zips compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division I, Division I level as a memb ...

, winners of the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

East Division, and the

Northern Illinois Huskies The Northern Illinois Huskies are the athletic teams that represent Northern Illinois University (NIU). The Huskies are a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I and the Mid-American Conference (M ...

, winners of the West Division. Down 14 points the fourth quarter, the Zips manufactured a comeback. Northern Illinois led by 6 points with 17 seconds remaining in regulation when Luke Getsy connected with

Domenik Hixon Domenik Hixon (born October 8, 1984) is an American former professional football wide receiver and return specialist who played in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Denver Broncos in the fourth round of the 2006 NFL dr ...

on a 36-yard touchdown pass. This and the subsequent successful extra point attempt would prove to be the game winning plays. Their victory earned the Akron football program its first MAC championship and bowl game berth.

References

Championship Game MAC Championship Game Akron Zips football games Northern Illinois Huskies football games American football competitions in Detroit December 2005 sports events in the United States MAC Championship 2005 in Detroit {{Michigan-sport-stub