NEW ORLEANS — Notre Dame has won 11 straight games and averaged a nearly 30-point margin of victory during that stretch, but as the Irish prepare for Wednesday’s College Football Playoff quarterfinal game against Georgia in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, much of the attention remains on the one game they’ve lost.
Notre Dame’s 16-14 home loss to Northern Illinois in Week 2 was a low point for the Irish, but head coach Marcus Freeman said it also served as a turning point that ignited the team’s recent run.
“There were some valuable lessons in that loss,” Freeman said Monday. “It’s this constant chase for improvement — every week, every day — that we have been able to make, and we still continue to have that mindset.”
In the aftermath of that loss, Freeman told his team to “hold on to that pain” as a motivating factor and use it as a motivator to improve. Now that Notre Dame is among the last eight teams still playing for a national title, tailback Jeremiyah Love said he appreciates the reminders of the team’s nadir.