Marcus Freeman after Northern Illinois upset: 'We got to own it'

Marcus Freeman is not making any excuses for himself or his team following a 16-14 upset loss to Northern Illinois on Saturday. The Notre Dame coach took the blame in his postgame press conference, saying the coaching staff didn’t do enough to have the players ready.

The Fighting Irish simply couldn’t get anything going on offense after scoring a touchdown on the opening drive to go up 7-0. They later allowed the Huskies to go up 13-7 before scoring another TD to take a 14-13 lead early in the third quarter.

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Unfortunately, that would be the last time all game that Notre Dame would score. It appeared the Fighting Irish might still hold on for victory before they allowed North Illinois to drive down and kick a go-ahead field goal with 35 seconds remaining.

“It’s obviously disappointing,” Freeman said. “It’s our job as coaches to make sure these guys are ready to go. We got to go back and evaluate the way we prepare and figure out exactly the mishaps that occurred in the preparation. I’ve always said performance is a reflection of preparation. So we’ve got to figure out where we failed in preparation.

“It’s disappointing. You guy from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in the tale of two weeks. We’ve got to own this thing as coaches and players. We got to own it. We got to fix it. We’ve been here before. Now it’s time to get it fixed and get back to playing football the way we know how to play. We can and we will.”

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Notre Dame got down to the Huskies 44-yard line on the ensuing drive and attempted a 62-yard field goal as time expired that would have won the game. Unfortunately, the distance was a bit too much for kicker Mitch Jeter to convert.

The Fighting Irish are in their third season under Freeman, who led them to a 10-3 record in 2023. This isn’t the first upset loss during his tenure as Notre Dame also fell to Marshall in his inaugural season.

It is a major let down coming off a big win against Texas A&M in Week 1, but the Fighting Irish will aim to bounce back next week. They will face Purdue at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sept. 14.