Notre Dame football would go beyond what happened Saturday

SOUTH BEND — If you want to read that all is well with the No. 5 Notre Dame football team, this column is not for you.

If you want to read about how the Irish will survive the rest of the regular season and clinch a spot in the College Football Playoff, this column is not for you.

If you need reassurance that Notre Dame’s football universe — from head coach Marcus Freeman to his expensive coaching staff, support staff and a host of veterans making significant salaries — is cool, this column is not for you.

Everything that was seemingly on the table for Notre Dame to prove it deserved to be among college football’s elite this season? To be mentioned in the same breath as Ohio State and Georgia and anyone else with serious national championship dreams? Everything off the table.

Judging the Irish: Notre Dame football deserves a low score after this game

On a sunny, windy, autumnal Saturday, everything related to Notre Dame football games rolled off the table and shattered onto the floor.

“We have to figure out what the problem is and come back stronger,” safety/captain Xavier Watts said.

That Notre Dame football lost a game it shouldn’t have lost, but also shouldn’t have won, wasn’t the biggest slap in the face delivered as the sun set over South Bend. No, the hardest part of the 16-14 loss to a Northern Illinois team that was a four-touchdown underdog was that we’ve seen it, heard it, and experienced it all before.

That’s the most troubling. The most frustrating. For Freeman. For the coaching staff. For the players, who have invested a lot, but now have to work like crazy to get any return on that investment. For this program.

What is the definition of insanity? Notre Dame football.

Only at Notre Dame does the football head coach’s postgame press conference get postponed because the band is busy with band stuff going into the tunnel. Only at Notre Dame can a team that is built to do big things this season look at this and say, no, we’re good.

Long before Saturday’s loss to Northern Illinois became final when Mitch Jeter’s desperation 62-yard wing-and-a-prayer field goal was blocked, it all felt like déjà vu. We’d seen it before. Second game of the season. In September. In 2022, Marshall came to town as decided underdogs and left with a shocking win over Notre Dame.

That was Freeman’s first season as head coach. That was a lesson learned. A lesson that Freeman had to learn if he ever wanted to have a shot at being the elite in this profession. He learned it. The Irish learned it. They went back to work and won eight in nine weeks, finishing 9-4.

It also made them realize that they could never, ever, under any circumstances, allow what happened that day in Notre Dame Stadium to happen again. No exceptions, no excuses.

Seven hundred and twenty-eight days later, we’re back to square one. It happened again. This is worse. More disheartening. More confusing. You wonder if this head coach, this coaching staff, this roster, this program, has its proverbial college football wheels turning. It’s been 36 years since Notre Dame last climbed the college football mountaintop. Thirty-six years and seven head coaches later. Too many embarrassing losses to count. Too many seasons of hoping, praying, believing that everything would fall into place.

Instead, Notre Dame failed again. Failed under Freeman’s watch. He’s one of the nicest guys in what can be a miserable business, but can he be the man or just another man?

“I’ve always said that performance is a reflection of preparation,” Freeman said. “We’ve got to figure out where we fell short in preparation. It’s disappointing. We’ve got to own this thing. We’ve got to fix it.”

Ask yourself this in the sanctity of your quiet place when you stop raging, whether it’s an hour, a day, or a week after this sting is gone. Can we really trust this program? Can we trust anything they say or do in the weeks and months ahead? Ever?

We had to trust them heading into 2024. Remember? Everything seemed to be falling into place. Freeman was a more confident head coach. Coordinators Mike Denbrock and Al Golden were more than worthy of their high salaries. This team had five captains, but it had a ton of leaders. It had everything it needed from a football standpoint, from a coaching standpoint, from a program administration standpoint, to make this College Football Playoff drive.

“We know we can be a good team,” defensive lineman Howard Cross said. “I’m confident in that.”

Raise your hand for how many others agree? Hello?

Notre Dame football hadn’t even gone into Daylight Savings Time before a tire blew. It now has to struggle the rest of the way with a donut spare tire and a missing windshield wiper. We didn’t think Marshall would happen again. It did. Will a game/loss like Clemson, Louisville, and Stanford happen again?

We can’t say for sure, right?

Direct analysis: Notre Dame football was in the ropes early in the game against Northern Illinois

Listening to Freeman on Saturday, it sounded a lot like Freeman in 2022. It’s time (again) to take a deep dive and challenge everything. It’s time (again) to ask even more of leadership. It’s time (again) to evaluate everything from the top down, even though everything should be great from the top down. It’s time (again) to take a few more long looks in the mirror.

This team has done it before. Time to do it again. Two weeks into this regular season, seven days into September, we are left with one truth.

The same old Notre Dame.

Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on Twitter: @tnoieNDI. Contact: (574) 235-6153.