Notre Dame Upset Loss to NIU: Time to Question Everything

Irish get completely outplayed by Northern Illinois, and now it's time to question everything

Northern Illinois celebrates after wining a NCAA college football game 16-14 against Notre Dame at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in South Bend. / Michael Clubb / USA TODAY NETWORK

Notre Dame's Saturday performance lost them any and all trust they had built up

Notre Dame was completely outplayed in all areas of the game of football en route to a humiliating upset loss 16-14 to Northern Illinois in the comfort of its own stadium and in front of its welcoming, loyal, and now miserable, fan base.

Northern Illinois came to Notre Dame Stadium and outplayed, outcoached, out-schemed, out-adjusted, and out-efforted the Irish.

This performance is one Marcus Freeman could not afford to have in his third year. It erases all trust anyone had in them and takes away a ton of the credibility last week's win provided. How does Notre Dame try to put itself back together? Where do you even start when there were malfunctions in every area of the program?

Notre Dame paid Northern Illinois $1.4 million to play them in South Bend today.

Northern Illinois just won 16-14.pic.twitter.com/plADc2lYF3

— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) September 7, 2024

This loss makes any and all questions fair game

This kind of loss in a critical "prove it" year is a problem for a head coach. Is this team trending in the right direction? How could anyone say yes after today?

Where is the Freeman era headed now? That remains unclear.

Is Riley Leonard the best answer at QB? I don't think anyone expected him to have 0 TD's through 2 games. More worrisome than that though was his second interception. That play cannot happen to your experienced transfer QB.

Unfortunately, no question is off limits after what many consider the worst loss in the history of the Notre Dame program. The best thing that can happen to the Irish now is to get to Purdue. It's going to be a long, brutal week in South Bend.

Northern Illinois Coach Gives Epic Postgame Locker Room Speech After Beating Notre Dame

WATCH: Riley Leonard Score First Touchdown For Notre Dame Against Northern Illinois

For more Irish news & notes follow John on Twitter @alwaysirishINC, Always Irish on Youtube and or your preferred audio podcast provider.