Marcus Freeman says Notre Dame ‘started to believe’ the hype prior to loss to NIU
By Sean Labar
Published:
Marcus Freeman met with the media on Monday following Notre Dame’s stunning home upset to Northern Illinois (NIU) out of the MAC on Saturday in a game where the Irish entered as 4-touchdown favorites.
Notre Dame had plenty of buzz swirling around its program after beating Texas A&M on the road in one of the toughest environments in college football. During Monday’s press conference , Freeman said he believes all of the hype may have gotten into the heads of his players.
“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 believe that.”
Freeman believes his team was physically prepared for Saturday’s home game against a team with far less talent, but he does believe the Irish lacked the mental preparation to take care of business following the huge Week 1 victory over the Aggies.
“There is a physical approach to preparing for a game, and I think physically we prepared the right way but there’s also a mental approach and a mindset that you have to have every single week, and I think that’s where we failed,” Freeman admitted.
It’s tough to see a path to the College Football Playoff for the Irish at this point with one of the biggest upsets of the season as a stain on their resume.
Notre Dame will look to bounce back on Saturday with a road trip to Purdue.
Sean Labar is an SEC football contributor for Saturday Down South.
