Northern Illinois is offering one free ticket per student to the Orange Bowl game against Florida State. (Dave Reginek/Getty Images)

Northern Illinois University has plans to offer one free ticket per student for their Orange Bowl game against Florida State, reports the Chicago Tribune. 

Northern Illinois became the first Mid-American Conference team to qualify for a BCS bowl after posting a 12-1 record and finishing No. 15 in the final BCS standings.

The team is making their fifth straight appearance in a bowl, but also offered free tickets to those games as well. According to the ticket office, the students must pick up the tickets in Miami where the game is held. The game will be played Jan. 1.

“We want our students to be a part of it,” NIU sports information director Donna Turner said. “We’d love to see a huge group of students get down to Miami.”

The Huskies were provided 17,500 tickets which must be sold or the school will likely lose money on the unsold tickets. By Monday morning, Turner said that about 500 students had reserved tickets.

ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit was particularly miffed that Northern Illinois received a berth to play in the Orange Bowl, calling it “an absolute joke,” “a sad state for college football” and an “injustice.”

Northern Illinois was the surprise inclusion to the BCS bowls, finishing in the top 16 of the BCS standings above two conference champions (the Big Ten’s Wisconsin and Big East’s Louisville) to secure its spot. For the first time in BCS history, a team from a non-automatic qualifying conference that was not undefeated was included in a BCS bowl. That knocked No. 11 Oklahoma out of a BCS bowl slot.

“The fact that Northern Illinois is in the BCS in 2012 is really a sad state for college football and where we are with the current system,” Herbstreit said. “Thank goodness we’re moving toward a new system in 2014. They don’t deserve to be in the BCS this year.

“Are you kidding me with Northern Illinois playing in the BCS? There are two things here that stand out. Northern Illinois — no one knew they were playing until the Toledo game a few weeks ago. … You’re going to leave Oklahoma out to put Northern Illinois into a BCS bowl game? Are you kidding me?”

Northern Illinois finished 12-1 this season and won the MAC Conference championship. The Huskies won their final dozen games after losing an 18-17 squeaker in their opener to Big Ten foe Iowa, which ended up finishing 4-8. Herbstreit said that was all the more reason they should be kept out of the BCS.

“To put them in the BCS is an absolute joke to the rest of these teams who are more deserving,” he said. “… Iowa’s the worst team in the Big Ten. They lost to Iowa.”

Here’s video of Herbstreit’s substantial rant:

Clemson Tigers receiver DeAndre Hopkins has been injured in a car accident and may miss the Orange Bowl on Jan. 2 against West Virginia, according to CollegeFootballTalk.

“First of all, we are relieved that DeAndre is going to be all right,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said in a statement. “He is lucky. We are told he does not have any serious injuries and we hope to have him join us soon. Obviously, DeAndre is one of the main parts of our offense and this would be a big loss if he is not able to play.

Hopkins reportedly suffered a mild concussion in the accident, and did not accompany the team to Miami this morning. According to CollegeFootballTalk, he was on his way to meet the team for their flight when the accident occurred.

The sophomore wide receiver is second on the Tigers in receiving this season, hauling in 62 passes for 871 yards and four touchdowns. Last season as a freshman he caught 51 passes for 626 yards.