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Heather Dinich is a senior writer at ESPN
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said he sometimes shows his players clips of their embarrassing Sept. 7 home loss to Northern Illinois — a motivational tactic that seems to be working.
The Irish have now won six straight games, their longest streak under Freeman, including a 51-14 win over Navy on Saturday at MetLife Stadium.
“We can’t lose the pain,” Freeman said after another crucial win that helped repair their hopes of a berth in the 12-team College Football Playoff. “That’s what I want to make sure our guys understand. I don’t want to lose the pain from that game because sometimes our motivation is fear. We don’t want that to happen again. We have to use that.” .
“We will be grateful to her if we use her and learn from the lessons she taught us. Sometimes when you have success, you forget that pain that NIU left in our hearts and our guts. There are moments I want to think about that and I don’t want them to lose it.”
If a team’s turning point could come just two weeks into the season, this could be it for the Irish. Since the loss to Northern Illinois, Notre Dame has been under pressure to win and look good doing so, as the only path to the playoff as an independent is through one of seven at-large bids. The rest of the spots are reserved for the five top-ranked conference champions — a bid Navy was hoping to get but was snagged on Saturday.
What started out as a highly anticipated rivalry between two ranked programs in desperate need of a complete win to bolster their resumes, quickly turned into a snoozefest.
Previously undefeated Navy, which has been one of the cheer stories of the season along with unbeaten rival Army, snapped back to reality with a series of blunders in the first half that proved too costly to overcome against a more talented team on a sunny Saturday in the home state. New York Jets and New York Giants.
Navy gave the Irish five fumbles — something the Midshipmen didn’t do once all season — and six total turnovers, their most since 2002. Notre Dame scored 27 points off turnovers, most of them — with the exception of Navy quarterback Blake. Horvath’s first red zone interception of his career — an unforced fumble, where ball security was a bigger issue than outstanding defensive play.
The strengths that propelled Navy to its first 6-0 start since 1979 — winning the turnover battle and perfecting the red zone — were the Midshipmen’s biggest weaknesses against Notre Dame. Navy was 1-of-3 in the red zone against Notre Dame, which also held the nation’s No. 4 scoring attack (44.8 points per game) scoreless for two quarters. Meanwhile, it was the most points the Navy defense allowed all season.
“You have to put in the work, otherwise you’re leaving the outcome up to chance,” Notre Dame linebacker Jack Kiser said. “Every day we learn what can happen if we don’t try to live up to our potential or live up to the standards. We use that as motivation.”
Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard was 3 of 3 for 105 yards and a touchdown on passes with at least 20 air yards, an area of the passing game that was sorely lacking entering the day. Those three assists are his most with the Irish, according to ESPN research.
Leonard, who transferred from Duke last offseason, said he is still figuring out the offense under first-year offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock, and continues to build cohesion with the players around him.
“Do I feel 100% confident yet? No, but some things are starting to become second nature in our scans,” he said. “It’s been a work in progress, obviously, but I think we’re getting better every week.”
Leonard accounted for three touchdowns (two passing, one rushing), and no interceptions against Navy. In the loss to NIU, Leonard threw two interceptions and no touchdowns. Freeman reiterated that part of the problem against NIU was that the team wasn’t mentally prepared to handle success, but after six straight wins, that mentality will continue to be tested — including his own.
“You better understand that if you don’t prepare the right way, you can lose to anyone you play with, and I never want to forget that,” he said.
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