Marcus Freeman says Notre Dame players fell victim to hype against NIU, but is there more to the story?

The Marcus Freeman era at Notre Dame hit its lowest point last weekend in a 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois. The Irish entered as a 28.5-point favorite and looked like a shell of the team that marched into College Station and came away with a 23-13 triumph over Texas A&M less than a week prior.

Days after the monumental win over the Aggies, marking perhaps the most impressive result in Freeman’s tenure in South Bend, the third-year coach received a call from his old college coach at Ohio State, Jim Tressel, who echoed to his former player that the “greatest danger is the illusion that all is well when indeed all isn’t well.”

“About 10 minutes ago, I got a call from my college coach, expecting to hear something great,” Freeman said last Monday at the beginning of ND’s game week vs. NIU. “That was the reminder that I needed more than anything. It was a big win for our program versus a good opponent, but we have so much work to really improve on.”

What ensued leading up to the showdown against Northern Illinois was a week full of physical practices that ultimately set Freeman’s up program for failure. Notre Dame had a path as clear as day to the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff based on what the remainder of its schedule looked like after the win over Texas A&M, but that path looks murky based on the most recent result.

In the aftermath of the loss, Freeman indicated Notre Dame bought too much into its rising stock. 

“This is the first time in my three years as a head coach that we have won the big game early in the season,” Freeman said. “Two losses to Ohio State and then all of a sudden, we win and everybody says, ‘Hey, you’re going to the playoff. You’ve got an easy schedule.’ We all hear it, and I think we started to…

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Author : Cameron Salerno

Publish date : 2024-09-12 15:39:25

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