EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Marcus Freeman used to recoil at the mention of Northern Illinois, seemingly offended no one could let the defining moment of his make-or-break third season go. The light would dim in Freeman’s eyes a bit when the questions came about how a College Football Playoff contender could lose at home to a middling MAC program and how major investment at quarterback could pay such a small dividend. These were unanswerable questions, at least not on the record.
Notre Dame’s head coach didn’t want everything about this season to be tinted by Northern Illinois, but he couldn’t stop the stain from spreading. Freeman talked about Notre Dame needing to handle success better, playing complementary football more, reaching the team’s full potential every day and about a dozen other talking points that coaches spout when they want to change the subject.
Turns out, Freeman never quite moved on from the worst loss in his tenure…