Marcus Freeman Says No. 5 Notre Dame Has 'Been Here Before' After Upset Loss vs. NIU

Marcus Freeman believes his team can rebound.

The Notre Dame head coach spoke with reporters following his team's 16-14 upset loss to Northern Illinois Saturday and said "we've been here before" in reference to the situation that lies ahead.

Notre Dame started the 2022 season 0-2 but rebounded to finish 9-4. The Fighting Irish are now 1-1 following the loss to the Huskies.

The 2024 season looked promising for Notre Dame after Week 1.

The Fighting Irish entered Kyle Field and took a 23-10 victory over Texas A&M in the opening game. This set the tone for the rest of the schedule, with a mostly non-ranked schedule until a major matchup against USC at the end of the year.

If Notre Dame could have remained undefeated, a playoff berth would appear all but sealed. However, this loss puts those hopes on life support.

The Fighting Irish can only qualify through an at-large bid due to their independent status. With this, a loss to a non-power conference team like Northern Illinois could hurt their case over teams with a harder strength of schedule.

It also likely signals that another loss would knock Notre Dame from playoff contention so the room for error is extremely low.

The Fighting Irish will look to rebound next week when they travel to face Purdue.