The Notre Dame Fighting Irish took one of the most stunning losses of nonconference play when they fell 16-14 to the Northern Illinois Huskies on September 7 in South Bend.
The loss marked an early season crossroads for head coach Marcus Freeman and his squad, which could have very easily turned the shocking loss into a free fall.
Instead, Notre Dame got up, brushed itself off, and continued playing, winning six in a row since then to improve to 7-1 on the season and checking in at No. 10 in Tuesday night’s inaugural 2025 College Football Playoff rankings.
Coming back from their bye week with a home matchup with the lowly Florida State Seminoles on the schedule should be a cakewalk for the Irish. Speaking to the media this week, though, Freeman made it clear that the team shouldn’t overlook a single opponent given what happened earlier this season.
“You don’t have to watch many plays to realize how talented [the Seminoles] are, but we got to continue to do the things in preparation to make sure we give our program the best chance to have success on Saturday. And that’s what we got to remember. It’s a mental preparation and a physical preparation, and we know what the result is when you don’t mentally prepare the right way. We know it, and that’s why we say, ‘keep the pain of NIU,’ because that’s a result of not having the right mindset,” Freeman said via On3.
Notre Dame vs. Florida State will kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. The game will air on NBC and Peacock.
[On3]
