(Photo by Chad Ryan)
Anyway you slice it, a three-touchdown win in a game that Notre Dame never trailed in, over a Power Four team with a winning record, is a good one. But, as Marcus Freeman acknowledged postgame, there were issues, and plenty of things to fix. In fact Freeman’s mind seemed to be already working on it. Because just minutes after defeating 5-4 Virginia 35-14, he wasn’t smiling much.
“I told them in the locker room, we’ll fix the film. There’s always plays to fix. We have to evaluate it and figure out the ‘whys,’ and we will.”
So what really needs fixing? Maybe not much.
In a choppy performance Saturday, the Irish punted the ball three times in the first quarter but then scored five touchdowns in the second quarter—three of which counted. For the game, ND was 1-for-12 on third downs but had nearly a 10-minute time-of-possession advantage. Riley Leonard threw an interception (his fourth of the year), and Max Hurleman mishandled a punt, turning the ball over. However, the Irish forced five turnovers, including three interceptions, all of which came in the second quarter. Notre Dame led 28-0 at halftime but was outscored 14-7 in the final two quarters. James Rendell finally got a hold of one and boomed a 64-yard punt with hangtime, but the Irish were 0-for-2 on field goal attempts.
Plenty to feel good about, stuff to fix.
Perhaps a step back from the razor’s edge where the Irish have lived for much of the last 10 weeks was inevitable….and not necessarily a bad thing. As Fighting Irish Preview has frequently pointed out, human nature all but guarantees letdowns. The best football coaches are masters at slotting their teams’ emotional levels right where they need to be—not too high, not too low. When emotions run too high, energy is wasted. When the emotional level is too low, you get Northern Illinois, or Stanford, or Marshall.
If ND’s performance this past week represents a letdown, a 21-point win still signals progress.
Since the Northern Illinois debacle, the Irish have outscored their eight opponents 343 to 85. Only Louisville has managed to score as many as three touchdowns. The Irish are +16 on turnovers. That’s good football.
Has Marcus Freeman found the right formula for avoiding Northern Illinois/Marshall/Stanford-style letdowns? Since Week 2, Freeman has impressed me with his even keel. Pre-NIU Freeman took bad performances hard and celebrated wins with much bigger, longer-lasting smiles. Post-NIU Freeman seems to celebrate for just about as long as it takes to walk off the field, talk to his team for a few minutes, and then head across the hall to address the media. He’s all business.
Last week, when asked about his team’s mindset as they have navigated CFP elimination game after CFP elimination game, week after week, for two months, replied that every game is treated as if it were “The Super Bowl.” The Irish have responded to Freeman post NIU with eight straight dominant wins and a ranking that is soon to be higher than No. 8 in the CFP.
Entering 2024, Notre Dame had just about as many of the ingredients to be elite as anyone in the nation. But a flaw reared up it’s ugly head Week 2. Notre Dame has an emotional consistency problem. Eight games later, there is now evidence that Freeman may have found the formula needed to fix that flaw..
The final verdict on that will arrive over the next two weeks.
