Notre Dame coming off the bye week to face 1-8 Florida State.

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The Irish are not overlooking Florida State, despite their bad record.

Since the 51-14 win over previously undefeated Navy, the team has had some time to evaluate the win and recover physically.

The current injury report includes kicker Mitch Jeter (questionable) and defensive lineman Loghan Thomas (hamstring; questionable). Besides these two recent injury updates, the Irish have everything they need to take on a terrible Florida State team, but that doesn't mean Head Coach Marcus Freeman is buying it.

"I even heard it last week on the road recruiting and you know, people say 'Oh, you guys got Florida State, they're struggling'. Yes, their record might not be where they want it to be, but you know, I'm not trying to make this team something they're not. They're a talented, talented football team and that's going to be my message to the team, is that we respect our opponent," Freeman said.

"It's a mental preparation and a physical preparation, and we know what the result is when you don't mentally prepare the right way. We know it. That's why we say keep the pain of NIU, because that's a result of not having the right mindset. Like, how do you handle success" Freeman added.

Unfortunately, it's up to the NCAAF playoff committee to decide how the Irish have handled success and from the looks of it, the loss to NIU is still a factor in deciding where Notre Dame sits in the rankings. After not playing last week due to the bye, Notre Dame managed to drop from eight to 10 in the AP Top 25 Poll. When asked if the team will pay attention to the release at 7 p.m. Tuesday night, here was Freeman's response.

"They're going to look and I'm sure somebody will tell me what were ranked, and I'll continue to remind them that it's great, but that has no impact on our future, Freeman said.

We got to make sure right now we take care of what's important. Because if we think that the rankings of tomorrow are going to be what the rankings are at the end of the season, then we're crazy. We got to take care of what we have right in front of us, and that's this opportunity to prepare for Florida State," Freeman added.