The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have been one of the nation’s best teams after their stunning September 7 home loss to the Northern Illinois Huskies.
Northern Illinois went into South Bend and came away with a 16-14 victory over the perennial contender, as Notre Dame’s margin for error for the rest of the season became razor-thin.
In the time since, though, the Fighting Irish are 7-0 with an average margin of victory of 33.8 points per game.
One of the biggest reasons for the turnaround has been head coach Marcus Freeman’s messaging. Freeman speaks on a near-weekly basis about the loss, and refuses to let his team forget it.
This week was no different, as the third-year head coach looked ahead to this week’s game against the Virginia Cavaliers, saying that, like every game this year, Notre Dame is treating it as if they were playing in the Super Bowl.
“Every game, this game’s the Super Bowl. No matter if we were in the Playoff hunt or not. It’s the same mindset we have. You get 12 of these guaranteed opportunities. I told the team in the locker room, we’re guaranteed one more opportunity here in Notre Dame Stadium for these seniors. To think about anything other than that, you’re doing this game a disservice. They work 300 days a year for 12 guaranteed opportunities no matter if this game determines if we make the playoffs or not,” Freeman said during Monday’s media availability.
So far the strategy has worked well for Freeman, who is looking to take to their first College Football Playoff.
Notre Dame and Virginia will kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET and air on NBC and Peacock.
