So what happened to Northern Illinois?

The school, which thundered into the Top 25 for the first time since 2013 after beating Notre Dame by four touchdowns as an underdog on Sept. 7, then lost to Buffalo in its encore. But on Monday, NIU spent the afternoon on the blue turf in Boise, Idaho, playing Fresno State in the famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

Which NIU coach Thomas hammock made him even more famous – somehow – by describing the postgame victory dip with french fries given to him by his players as “You know, that was the best garbage disposal of my career.”

Maybe Irish coach Marcus Freemanwho handled the Frosted Flakes shower at the Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl last December a little more eloquently might be helpful.

But the team that nearly wiped out Notre Dame’s College Football Playoff bid became the rallying point, fueling an 11-game winning streak that led to a Jan. 1 CFP quarterfinal game between the seven-seeded Irish (12-1). ) and second-seeded Georgia (11-1). 2) in New Orleans. That’s the second-longest active winning streak in the FBS, behind Oregon’s 14.

The Huskies, meanwhile, won four of their last five games to finish at 8-5, capped by Monday’s 28-20 double-overtime win over the Fresno State Bulldogs that came from behind. Or was it “Bulldongs”? The ESPN graphics team showed the latter reference repeatedly during the broadcast.

Northern Illinois played the game without two of its notable contributors to the Irish upset. quarterback Ethan Hampton was one of five Huskies starters, along with a handful of backup players, who decided against entering the transfer portal. He landed at Wake Forest and then restarted after becoming head coach of the Demon Deacons Dave Clawson resigned before choosing Illinois.

Running back Antario Brown, on the NFL’s radar, missed the final three games of the regular season and then the bowl game due to injury. Against Notre Dame, he shredded the Irish defense with two receptions for 125 yards and a touchdown and 99 rushing yards on 20 carries.

The Huskies outrebounded the Irish 190-123 on the day.

That’s one of the things NIU continued to do well, finishing 16th nationally in rushing offense and 20th in rushing defense before heading to bowls and the CFP postseason. In fact, Northern Illinois has done many things well on the defensive side of the ball – including fifth in total defense, second in third-down conversion defense, 15th in pass efficiency defense and the 20th place in sacks.

The only four teams ahead of the Huskies currently in total defense are or were all in the CFP.

Where NIU fell behind ND was on offense – 117th in pass efficiency and 95th in offensive rating were two of the statistical eyesores. The turnovers hurt the Huskies in close games as they ranked 85th in turnover margin.

Maybe Freeman still owes Hammock a call at the end.

And then again, maybe they’re even.

The spectacle of Jeremiyah Love’s 98-yard TD run Friday night in the 27-17 CFP first-round shutout of Indiana nearly eroded the 50-year-old school record he erased and is now somewhat relinquishing.

The sophomore has now scored a rushing TD or more in 13 consecutive games, two more than Wayne Bullock did that in the 1970s and is something no other FBS running back has done this season.

But what about the bigger picture at the national level?

The NCAA does not list consecutive games with a rushing TD (or more), but it does list consecutive games with at least one TD of any kind. And that mark has been held by Virginia Tech’s Lee Suggs with 27 straight games since December 31, 2002.

Love also passed the 1,000-yard mark for the season (1,057 and counting) on ​​Friday night, the 21st 1,000-yard season in ND history. And his 7.42 yards per carry ranked No. 2 nationally. New Mexico quarterback Devon Dampier is No. 1 at 7.52 and his season is over. This also applies to his career as a Lobo as he moves to Utah for next season.

As impressive as Love’s numbers were against Indiana, so was the effort he had to put in to simply be available to play.

Not only did Love work hard to recover from a knee injury suffered in the Nov. 30 regular-season finale at USC, but he also battled illness in the days and hours leading up to Friday night’s win.

“We didn’t do anything for him. That’s all he was,” Freeman said Monday during a news conference at Notre Dame Stadium. “He’s a tough guy who had some flu-like symptoms and did whatever it took to go out and perform.

(ND Assistant Athletics Director for Strategy and Football Communications) Katy (Lonergan) showed me an interview. At least he kept his clothes on during pregame warmups, not like some of these wideouts.

“He’s a competitor, man. Nothing stopped Jeremiyah Love from playing on Friday. He also played at a high level.”

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“Next Man In” sure looks good on a t-shirt and sounds good in the cutscene, but Freeman turned it into a lifestyle that continues to show up this season.

The Irish lost to Vyper on the defensive line alone Jordan Botelho And Boubacar Traore Due to season-ending knee injuries in September, backup D-lineman Jason Onye was named a 2023 All-American shortly thereafter for personal reasons Howard Cross III for most of November, even though he’s back.

And now it’s defensive tackle Rylie Mills after she suffered a playoff-ending knee injury against the Hoosiers on Friday night.

“You don’t prepare them in a week. They prepared every single day the entire season,” Freeman said of backups Gabe Rubio and Armel Mukam, who move to the top of the depth chart. “That’s why every repetition you do in practice is important and will be evaluated.

“Because you don’t know when this representative will be used against Georgia. You need to prepare in practice so that, firstly, you improve, but secondly, you are ready when your number is called. We have a lot of guys who are preparing that way and they’re going to play a bigger role.”

Mills was crucial in so many aspects of the Irish defense, but the most difficult aspect to replicate may be the pass rush. He leads the Irish with 7.5 sacks. To put that in perspective, the only Irish defensive linemen to accumulate that many sacks or more in a season since ND won its last national title (1988) have been All-Americans Jerry Tillery (8) in 2018 and freshman defensive end Bryce Youngs Father, Bryant Young1992 with 7.5.

• Unlike bowl game routines where players can take a short break to go home for Christmas, that won’t be the case for the Irish in playoff mode.

“We’re going to celebrate Christmas together,” Freeman said. “It’s an honor, it’s a privilege to be able to celebrate Christmas with your football program, with your football family and to train for a College Football Playoff game. There are a lot of college football teams that would like to do that.

“We need to make sure we understand this. Our boys do it. None of these guys are thinking about going home – at least they don’t tell me when they do. We’re going to celebrate Christmas together and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

• ND kicker Mitch Jeter went 2-for-3 on field goals against Indiana, with the miss – a 37-yard attempt – marking the fourth time one of his kicks was blocked this year. In those unblocked, Jeter is 8 of 11 and even battled a hip injury in the second half of the regular season.

That included shots from 49 and 33 yards against the Hoosiers.

“Friday’s problem was not the problem from a few weeks ago,” Freeman said of the blockage. “It was a low kick. We just have to get a little more height. At the beginning of the season it was more about protection than the actual kicking (on the blocks).

“I just hit it a little wrong. He really did some good things. Mitch did some wonderful things in this game. Here too, his self-confidence is high and I also have confidence in him.”

• Comparing the current Notre Dame team’s defensive numbers to the 1988 national team? Actually pretty similar.

The 1988 national champions ranked third nationally in scoring defense and 13th in total defense. Al Golden’s The unit ranks third in scoring defense and eighth in D scoring.

And as for the three Irish teams that have recently been in the national title game, in 2012 they were No. 7 in total defense and No. 2 in goal defense, in 2020 they were 23/14 and in 2018 they were 30/13.

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