Notre Dame Stunned by Northern Illinois in MASSIVE Upset: Instant Takeaways

Notre Dame's 2024 home opener turns into reality check for the ages

Notre Dame and Northern Illinois get in a dog pile during a NCAA college football game between Notre Dame and Northern Illinois at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in South Bend. / Michael Clubb / USA TODAY NETWORK

Marcus Freeman spoke to the assembled Notre Dame media on Monday and mentioned a call he had just had with his former head coach Jim Tressel.

Tressel didn't give advice to Freeman following a huge win at Texas A&M but instead a pretty simple reminder:

"The greatest illusion is that when all looks well, all isn’t well."

It's almost like the old sweatervest has seen a thing or two in his coaching career as Notre Dame went from national penthouse to sniffing the outhouse against Northern Illinois.

Notre Dame's Offensive Woes

Everything started fine and dandy for Notre Dame on Saturday as the offense went 75 yards in 13 plays for an opening touchdown drive. The rest of the half saw Notre Dame run 29 plays for just 89 yards and included a Riley Leonard interception.

Through eight quarters of play this year, Notre Dame is averaging 4.6 points per quarter. The offensive issues are glaring and Mike Denbrock's playcalling Saturday is certainly worth questioning in the awful loss.

Riley Leonard's Big Time Struggles

Riley Leonard had a very tough game on Saturday, throwing for just 144 yards on 29 attempts while throwing a pair of interceptions.

Notre Dame's offensive line is young and not without issue but Leonard didn't do himself many favors Saturday, either. Like was seen at Texas A&M last week, Leonard doesn't trust stepping up in the pocket with any consistency yet. As a result, playing against a pair of very good defensive ends, Leonard didn't exactly break out big runs and Notre Dame's offense stalled time and time again.

Leonard's second interception of the day was awful on all fronts as it was thrown severely late and short of his intended target. That wound up being the biggest turning point of an awful afternoon for the Fighting Irish.

Where is Jeremiyah Love?

Jeremiyah Love had an epic touchdown run where he hurdled a defender and galloped 34 yards to put Notre Dame ahead 14-13 midway through the third quarter.

That seems like a guy you want to get the ball in the hands of.

Forget that Love only touched the ball 13 times all afternoon, he touched the ball only one time the remainder of the game.

1.

That's on Mike Denbrock, Marcus Freeman, and Deland McCullough. He's far and away the biggest playmaker Notre Dame has. Get him the ball.

Let me say it again.

GET HIM THE BALL.

Where are Notre Dame's Wide Receivers?

Last week Notre Dame's wide receivers stepped up and made huge plays, especially late to kickstart the running game in the fourth quarter.

Those were nowhere to be found Saturday afternoon.

Was it Leonard? Was it the receivers?

Guess what - it was both.

Notre Dame just played a 60 minute contest against Northern Illinois and couldn't complete a pass of longer than 19 yards all afternoon.

No offense to them as they came in and stole Marcus Freeman and company's lunch money Saturday, but its Northern Freaking Illinois.

Putrid by the Irish.

Marcus Freeman's Clock is Ticking

A week ago Notre Dame walked into Texas A&M and earned its biggest road victory in years.

This week it was a team that looked unprepared and largely disinterested.

That falls on a third year head coach.

Days ago it was "Notre Dame has a clear shot to host a home game in the College Football Playoff".

Now its more of a picture we've already seen too much of from Marcus Freeman.

Notre Dame-NIU Reaction:

Northern Illinois Stuns Notre Dame in Epic Upset

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