A week after No. 5 Notre Dame was praised for its toughness and big plays in a huge, season-opening win, the Irish folded again at home under coach Marcus Freeman — and likely disintegrated what seemed a week ago like a sure-fire path to the College Football Playoff.
Northern Illinois 16, Notre Dame 14.
It was not just a hiccup Saturday, it was the result of an underlying disease decaying the bones of the proud Fighting Irish program. Freeman’s bunch just can’t seem to avoid big bangs and thuds in South Bend. Seemingly able to compete against the nation’s best any week but more than willing to slog in the mud the next week against a MAC team, the rash spreads across the program.
Upsets happen, but not like this. Not with a MAC team marching into Notre Dame Stadium, dominating both lines of scrimmage, blocking two field goals and coming up with big third-down conversions again and again. Freeman lost his third game as a two-touchdown favorite at home, the most by a coach in the sport since 2022. It wasn’t just bad, it was historic. The Irish entered as 28-point favorites, marking the program’s largest upset to any team since 1995.
Give Thomas Hammock and his Huskies their roses and clover leaves. They didn’t need luck, as he said after the game, to beat the Irish. They also didn’t need blue-chip transfers or a media-grabbing win against Texas A&M in Week 1 to bolster their confidence.
“We’ve got a veteran team, a bunch of guys who have ben through a lot of different things,” a teary eyed Hammock said after the game. “They worked together. We are still college football. I know there’s a whole lot of other things with the transfer portal, NIL; we still have a family and they believed in that family and doing things the right way. I…
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Author : Brandon Marcello
Publish date : 2024-09-08 00:29:49
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