Shane Gillis blames Notre Dame loss vs. Northern Illinois for father's heart attack

Notre Dame losing to Northern Illinois wasn’t just a stunning loss that was arguably the worst in program history, but it also did some serious medical damage to the father of actor and comedian Shane Gillis.

The Notre Dame superfan appeared on The Pat McAfee Show on Monday ahead of the national title game between Notre Dame and Ohio State and revealed that his father had a heart attack that was caused by the Fighting Irish losing to Northern Illinois.

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“After Northern Illinois I had lost faith, admittedly,” Shane Gillis said. “My dad had a heart attack from that. He’s back. He’s worked his way back to health. He’s here. He made it all the way back to Atlanta. He’s back. Marcus revived him.”

That’s obviously good news that the father of Shane Gillis is now healthy and will be in attendance for the national championship game. It would be quite the ending to a wild year for the Fighting Irish to go from losing to Northern Illinois to winning it all.

No matter what happens, Shane Gillis is thankful to have Marcus Freeman as the Notre Dame head coach. He is finishing up his third season leading the Fighting Irish after taking over for Brian Kelly.

“Marcus is the man. He’s awesome. He’s the nicest, coolest guy,” Shane Gillis said. “[Brian Kelly] went to LSU and he’s going to ruin that program.”

Notre Dame injury updates: Pete Thamel gives latest on Fighting Irish stars vs. Ohio State

ESPN’s Pete Thamel provided the latest on a few injured Notre Dame players for Monday night: Jeremiyah Love, Beaux Collins and Charles Jagusah.

They are all slated to go against Ohio State in the national championship. In the case of Jagusah, he’s expected to start at left tackle after returning from injury and playing in the last two games as a reserve.

“Jeremiyah Love, he told me in the Oregon Bowl he was only 75 or 80% in that game, he had 11 carries for 46 yards,” Thamel said on College Football Live. “He told me tonight he expects to be between 90 and 95% really, with mental hurdles as the biggest thing left to get him to 100. I really think that in the pass game is where we may see a difference tonight, with Love. He only had one target in that Penn State game. If he has that high, high end speed, which he flashed against Indiana, he can make a difference in that pass game.”

Collins is 100% per Thamel, giving a big boost to Notre Dame’s wide receiver group. He was dealing with a calf strain.