CHICAGO – The gut-wrenching loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday at Soldier Field was a tough one to swallow for the Northern Illinois Huskies.

But less than an hour after the heartbreaker was over, Sterling native Tyler Loos and his fellow offensive linemen felt like it was a victory of sorts.

Making his first start in his first college appearance for the Huskies, the 2010 Sterling High School graduate made the most of it. After waiting 2 years – through a redshirt season in 2010 and a knee injury in 2011 – Loos played every one of NIU’s 52 offensive snaps at left tackle in front of a crowd of 52,117 screaming, hollering, glad-football-is-finally-here fans.