This is the first time in my three years as a head coach that we have won the big game early in the season. Two losses to Ohio State and then all of a sudden, we win and everybody says, 'Hey, you're going to the playoff. You've got an easy schedule.' We all hear it, and I think we started to believe that.
There is a physical approach to preparing for a game, and I think physically we prepared the right way, but there's also a mental approach and a mindset that you have to have every single week, and I think that's where we failed.
Not since 1995 against Northwestern had Notre Dame lost a game it was favored by 28 points to win. The Fighting Irish entered Saturday with a 71% chance to make the CFP, according to the Allstate Playoff Predictor, and that sank to 24% with the loss.
Freeman, whose team will travel to Purdue on Saturday, said his team isn't focused on trying to run the table. That doesn't matter. This week matters. Who cares about the future?
[
Collection
]
[
|
...
]