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The biggest upset in Week 2 of the college football season was Notre Dame losing at home to Northern Illinois. Yes, the Irish fell to Northern Illinois, 16-14, on a 35-yard field goal by Kanon Woodill with less than a minute remaining.
As such, it might have ended Notre Dame's hopes of earning a College Football Playoff spot, and it comes just a week after a huge road win against Texas A&M. It was a crushing loss for the Irish, and here are a few people to blame for the Week 2 upset.
Notre Dame QB Riley Leonard
The transfer from Duke played well in the Week 1 win over the Aggies. Unfortunately, Week 2 was a disaster. Leonard went just 20-of-32 for 163 yards with no scores and a pair of interceptions. The second interception was the most crucial. With Notre Dame clinging to a 14-13 lead, Leonard tossed the pick and Northern Illinois took over with less than six minutes left.
After the game, Leonard opened up on that turnover: “It was a completely bad read,” Leonard said. “That single high safety was attached to the inside post. I thought he wouldn't attach again. Bad eyes, bad feet, bad ball. That resulted in a pick. Can't happen. Completely my fault.”
From that point, Northern Illinois executed a long drive that resulted in the go-ahead field goal by Woodill.
Leonard also rushed 11 times for only 16 yards (and one score) after he had 63 yards on 12 carries against the Aggies. All in all, it was a disappointing effort from the former Duke signal-caller.
Marcus Freeman
As per usual, the head coach has to shoulder some of the blame. Right after the loss, Marcus Freeman did just that: “I’m not going into hiding. I’m going to work to get it fixed. We've been here before.”
After the Week 1 win, Notre Dame's name was tossed around in way too early College Football Playoff conversation. On Monday, Freeman mentioned how they need to ignore those and just play football: “We have to learn how to handle success. Everybody says you're going to the playoff, you've got an easy schedule. I think we started to believe that.”
Still, Freeman needs to accept a large chunk of the blame. The Irish looked unprepared, the offense looked lackluster, and the defense could not get a stop on a near-six-minute drive in the final stretch. A team with hopes of making the Playoff needs to beat easy teams such as Northern Illinois, especially at home.
Notre Dame defense
This is a tough one, especially since they only allowed 16 points. However, the lone touchdown came from a defensive mishap early in the first quarter as Antario Brown broke out for an 83-yard receiving score.
Love Antario Brown as a small-school sleeper at RB!
He’s a great runner as is — tough, physical, well-leveraged — but here, he motions into the slot and wins as a receiver.
— Ian Cummings (@IC_Draft) September 7, 2024
The Irish allowed Brown to catch two passes for 126 yards and a score and rush for 99 yards on 20 carries, so they simply had no answer for him. In total, Northern Illinois had 388 total yards with 198 passing and 190 on the ground. The Irish did not register a single sack and did not force a turnover, which is not encouraging against a team they should've had no issues with.
In Week 3, Notre Dame will look to rebound against Purdue on the road.
