Notre Dame football fell into the letdown trap after giving Ohio State a game, losing in upset fashion to Marshall in Week 2.
Marcus Freeman was supposed to bring a new, younger, more successful Notre Dame to the forefront.
Instead, he’s still looking for his first victory as ahead coach.
Losses to Oklahoma in a bowl game and highly-ranked Ohio State in Week 1 were understandable. Losing to Marshall, 26-21? Now that was unexpected.
CFB twitter loved Marshall’s upset of Notre Dame
Hey, Notre Dame…
— Matt Moscona (@MattMoscona) September 10, 2022
Brian Kelly wasn’t your problem.
What a huge, huge moment for Marshall and Charles Huff. What an abject disaster for Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman.
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) September 10, 2022
Buddy, Marcus Freeman is about to start 0-3 as Notre Dame coach with a loss to Marshall in his first home game.
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) September 10, 2022
Tired: Notre Dame won’t join the Big Ten because of its lucrative TV deal with NBC.
— Scott Bell (@sbell021) September 10, 2022
Wired: Notre Dame won’t join the Big Ten because its future lucrative TV deal with Comedy Central.
Live look at Notre Dame fans pic.twitter.com/pxBd70V2zi
— PFF College (@PFF_College) September 10, 2022
why did anybody expect Marshall, a school which produced Randy Moss, to lose to Notre Dame, a school which has never produced any football players as good as Randy Moss
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) September 10, 2022
Notre Dame fans leaving the stadium pic.twitter.com/rOxqS74q6f
— Overtime (@overtime) September 10, 2022
Brian Kelly went from Notre Dame to LSU and somehow it killed both programs. That’s impressive.
— Brandon Walker (@BFW) September 10, 2022
Notre Dame paid Marshall $1.25 Million to lose 26-21 pic.twitter.com/KLFXMsoJIS
— NCAAF Nation (@NCAAFNation247) September 10, 2022
Coaching starts at Notre Dame:
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) September 10, 2022
Marcus Freeman 0-3
Brian Kelly 1-3
Bob Davie 1-4
Lou Holtz 1-4
Gerry Faust 1-2
This was just the second time in program history Marshall has beaten a Top 10 team. In 2003, they knocked off No. 6 Kansas State. Notre Dame was ranked No. 8.
All the positivity Notre Dame might have felt after losing a tight game to Ohio State last week will now evaporate completely. Freeman’s lack of head coaching experience will be in the spotlight.
He’ll have to find a way to keep the faith of his team and fanbase as they wait to host Cal next week. If he can’t get a win then, Notre Dame fans will have to hold their breath because it only gets tougher with matchups at North Carolina and against ranked BYU.
The Irish were listless against the Herd throughout. Held scoreless until three minutes left in the second quarter, they couldn’t get much of anything going while Marshall built a 9-7 lead going into halftime.
Another futile third quarter saw the Herd add to their lead with a field goal until finally Tyler Buchner brother through on a quarterback sneak to put the Irish ahead 15-12 early in the fourth quarter.
Marshall had no intention of going away. An 11-play scoring drive put them back ahead before Steven Gilmore, the brother of Stephon Gilmore, picked off Buckner and returned it 37 yards for a touchdown.
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