Audric Estime shares how Notre Dame is responding after 'hard' loss to Ohio State

It has been a difficult few days for the Notre Dame football team following Saturday’s last-second loss to Ohio State. The Irish were one play away from securing a huge win, before the Buckeyes scored with one second left on the clock.

Notre Dame running back Audric Estime joined On3’s Andy Staples and discussed how the Irish have responded to the loss. He admitted that it’s been difficult.

“Obviously that was a pretty hard game for us. That was something that we all wanted. But that’s part of the sport we play. That’s part of the life we play,” Estime said. “This is a lesson that we’re going to take with us for the rest of our lives. Coach Freeman always (says), ‘One day, one life. One game, one life.’ … Yesterday might be with us for the whole season in the back of our heads, but we’ve gotta flush that. We’ve gotta learn from that game.”

The Irish showed that they have a team that can compete with anyone during Saturday’s game against Ohio State, but it was still difficult coming up just short.

If one break or one play would have gone differently, Notre Dame would be undefeated still and in a good position to reach the College Football Playoff. Instead, there is no margin for error moving forward.

“That game we fell short due to little details that weren’t executed. But that’s something that’s going to help us,” Audric Estime said. “Like coach [Marcus] Freeman said in today’s team meeting, ‘When you lose a game like that, you’ve gotta look in the mirror and see what you could do and how you can get better as an individual’ and that’s what we will do.”

Notre Dame doesn’t have much time to feel sorry for itself as the Irish play at Duke on Saturday.

The Blue Devils have been arguably the biggest surprise in college football so far this season as they are 4-0 behind star quarterback Riley Leonard. They already have an impressive win over Clemson at home and will look to get another one on Saturday against Notre Dame.

Estime and the Irish plan to use Saturday’s loss to Ohio State as motivation moving forward. The college football world will once again be tuned in this weekend as College GameDay will be in Durham and will broadcast from the Notre Dame game for the second consecutive week.

“This team, we’re kind of taking it pretty well,” Estime said of the loss to Ohio State. “No one’s dragging around, no one’s being lazy, no one’s putting their head down. Our message is just flush it. It was hard on Sunday. Sunday was a pretty hard day for us all, even the coaches. But it’s a new week. We’ve got a new opponent. And we’ve just got to keep on going.”