Throughout his weekly information convention on Monday, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman shared why he thinks the Combating Irish suffered an enormous upset in Week 2 to Northern Illinois.
“That is the primary time in my three years as a head coach that now we have gained the massive recreation early within the season,” Freeman mentioned. “Two losses to Ohio State [in 2022 and 2023], after which hastily we win [against Texas A&M], and all people says, ‘Hey, you are going to the playoff. You have bought a straightforward schedule.’ All of us hear it, and I feel we began to imagine that.
“There’s a bodily method to getting ready for a recreation, and I feel bodily, we ready the best means. However there’s additionally a psychological method and a mindset that it’s important to have each single week, and I feel that is the place we failed.
“So we have gotta problem ourselves and ensure, irrespective of who our opponent is, that bodily and mentally, our method to the sport is similar means.”
Freeman went on to emphasise that Notre Dame must cease wanting forward and desirous about what it must do to make this season’s Faculty Soccer Playoff and do a greater job at focusing all of its power on the opponent the workforce is going through every week.
He is aware of that if the Combating Irish look previous one other opponent, as they did this previous weekend, then taking part in for a nationwide championship most likely is not going to be a risk.
Notre Dame was clearly driving excessive after getting an enormous win on the street over a ranked Texas A&M workforce in Week 1. The Combating Irish then had a matchup inside their residence stadium in opposition to a Northern Illinois program that hadn’t defeated a ranked opponent since 2003, and everybody assumed Notre Dame was going to enter Week 3 with a 2-0 report.
However that is, in fact, not what occurred.
As an alternative, the Combating Irish had been on the shedding finish of a matchup during which they entered as heavy favorites, and the varsity’s possibilities of making this season’s 12-team Faculty Soccer Playoff bracket took an enormous hit.
Because of Notre Dame’s stunning loss in Week 2, it dropped 13 spots to No. 18 within the newest AP Prime 25 ballot, and it fell 12 spots on this week’s AFCA Coaches Ballot, which presently has this system ranked because the No. 19 workforce within the nation.
In Week 3, the Combating Irish will try to get their season again on observe once they head out on the street to tackle a 1-0 Purdue workforce that’s coming off a 4-8 end in 2023.
Will Notre Dame reside as much as the bulk’s expectations this time and defeat a lesser-talented opponent, or will the varsity endure a stunning loss for the second week in a row?