Notre Dame Stadium Experience Will Be An Experiment vs Miami University

How will the home fans react after the NIU experience?

Notre Dame fans are lifted up after a Notre Dame touchdown 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

After the Northern Illinois debacle, how will the Notre Dame home crowd respond?

After an unfortunate welcome to the home slate of 2024 with an unthinkable loss at the hands of Northern Illinois, Irish fans are preparing themselves to return to Notre Dame Stadium for the second time this year. Will they have more to cheer about this time? They certainly hope so.

The Irish fan scar tissue is real and the circumstances are eerily similar to two weeks ago. A day game, at home and against a non "brand name" opponent in a game not in primetime.

One would like to think the Irish have learned their lesson after one letdown and won't let it happen again, but it's hard to ignore the Marshall & Stanford results not that long ago under similar circumstances.

The Fighting Irish leave the field to showers of boos and cries of “you suck” from their own fans.

This one is gonna be tough for Notre Dame to get over, to say the least. pic.twitter.com/d7hilhRBhc

— Tyler Horka (@tbhorka) September 7, 2024

Miami University may be in for a long day

It's going to be really interesting to see how the Irish crowd engages with this game. Are there moans and groans early should Notre Dame get off to another slow start? How will the expected extreme heat affect the patrons?

This feels to me like a spot where Notre Dame comes out to prove a point at the expense of Miami Ohio. The Irish know they allowed a disaster to occur the last time they played in the house Rockne built and should go above and beyond this week to ensure it doesn't happen again.

I suspect the home crowd will be in "wait and see" mode, unsure of exactly what to expect but hoping for the best.

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