The good and the bad

Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman have been here before, how will they react this time?

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first Marcus Freeman-led Notre Dame team to find themselves reeling from an unthinkable home loss to a team they were heavily favored to beat. History suggests, however, that a comeback is coming.

In 2022, Notre Dame lost to Marshall at home in a game that felt eerily similar to the NIU game, then went on a 3-game winning streak before losing at home to a terrible Stanford team.

From there, the Irish rattled off five straight wins, including a blowout of Clemson, undefeated and in the top 5. That’s plenty of evidence to suggest Notre Dame is down, but not out.

The problem with the “been here before” philosophy.

While there is some comfort level with the history of Freeman Notre Dame teams coming back from these losses, the problem is that there continues to be a need to come back from these losses.

There was a leeway and understanding in the first year of Freeman’s tenure that the program was in flux and trying to find its way under new direction.

But Freeman is in Year 3 now, and there’s no appetite or understanding for those kinds of losses. What was learned from the Marshall and Stanford 2022 experiences?

Or even since the frustrating losses to Louisville and Clemson in 2023, where the Irish didn’t seem ready to play? The NIU result does not indicate much.

There is only one way out of this situation now. Win games. Fortunately, the Irish will have a great chance to do just that against Purdue on Saturday.

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