DeKALB – Lee McGee thought the Northern Illinois Huskies would have to rebuild in 2012.

After the Mid-American Conference football champions lost their starting quarterback to the NFL, a repeat as conference kingpins seemed unlikely to the lifelong NIU fan. An invitation to a BCS bowl game – a feat never accomplished by a Mid-American Conference team – was only possible in McGee’s wildest dreams.

But there was no need to wake up from any dream Wednesday as McGee and about 150 other fans waited in sub-freezing weather to welcome the Huskies back from their historic run to the Orange Bowl. The fans lined the Convocation Center drive as the players’ buses approached.