Local Football Players Set to Take the Field in College Bowl Games

By Michael Sewell

Last week, college football teams found out where they would be playing bowl games this season, and there’s plenty of Chicago-area talent featured on the rosters.

Local teams Northern Illinois and Notre Dame won’t be going back to BCS bowls as they did last year, but they still have bowl games and local guys to watch. The Huskies have 20 area athletes on the roster, plus a bunch more from non-Patch towns, and Notre Dame features nine. 

Mount Greenwood native Jordan Lynch, who was named a Heisman Trophy finalist, easily had the best season of the bunch, leading the Huskies to a 12-1 record with 4,557 total yards and 45 touchdowns as a passing and rushing threat.

Other local football players set to suit up for bowl games in the coming weeks are Matt Battaglia a Marist grad at Northern Illinois, Dan Orseske a Brother Rice product also at Northern and Andy Gallick also from Brother Rice plays for Boston College. 

There’s a lot of Big Ten representation as well, with local athletes on the roster for Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State and Wisconsin.

Perhaps not surprisingly, 2012 Class 7A state champion Glenbard West has the most guys (six) on the list. Six athletes from Naperville are also on the list, with each one having attended a different high school.

And New Lenox native Jake Lembke, who attended Providence Catholic, is part of a team in the biggest game: He’s a deep snapper for the Auburn Tigers, who will play in the BCS National Championship against the undefeated and No. 1-ranked Florida State Seminoles.

See the full 2013-14 college football bowl schedule on ESPN.com.