Notre Dame drops their home opener to Northern Illinois 16-14

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind -- The Irish can't keep the momentum from the win over Texas A&M while facing Northern Illinois in front of the home crowd for the first time this season.

Irish fans go home devasted. Huskies go home with $1.4 million dollars and a win over #5 Notre Dame.

In one week, this team has seen two opposite sides of the spectrum.

"You know, you go from the highest highs to lowest lows in the tail of two weeks. But, you know, we got to own this thing as coaches and players. We got to own it. We got to fix it. I've been here. We've been here before, right? We've been here before," Notre Dame Head Coach Marcus Freeman said.

The Irish were in this position two years ago losing to Marshall in Freeman's first home game as the head coach.

"I've been up here for Marshall, I've been up here for Cincinnati, and I say the same thing, right? We need to prepare like they're one of the one of the best teams in nation. I don't care if we go against them. I don't care if we go against Alabama. That's how we need to prepare," Notre Dame defensive lineman Howard Cross added.

It wasn't the same lock down defense we saw in College Station a week ago. In Saturday's matchup, Notre Dame gave up 190 yards on the ground and 198 in the air. More than half the total yards belonging to Antorio Brown, finishing the night with 225 yards and one touchdown.

In addition, the Notre Dame offense looked out of sorts.

"We just couldn't capitalize off it on offense. We could not, you know, other than the one. Touchdown. I think Jay Love had we just couldn't continue. We couldn't move the chains either. That's the thing. Like we can't go three and out and we can't turn the ball over, and so those are areas we just got to get fixed," Freeman mentioned.

Only 286 yards of total offense, led by quarterback and captain Riley Leonard throwing for 163 yards and two interceptions.

"You know how I'm feeling. Obviously, you guys could probably imagine. But I think it's, it's a motivation. So, you know, you can mob around for a while, but tomorrow, you got to wake up and go on to the next day," Leonard said.

"This is awful. But like, Game two. We got 10 games left, at least. Like, we got to move because this is we literally just started the season," Cross added.

Next up for the Irish, the Purdue Boilermakers on the road at Ross-Ade Stadium. Kickoff is at 3:30pm EST September 14, 2024.