Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1526412
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 14, 2024 21 No. 20 Texas A&M in front of 107,315 who fell completely silent because of what the Irish accomplished. They didn't accomplish much of anything in front of 77,622 of their own fans. "It's disappointing," Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said. "You go from the highest of highs to the low- est of lows in a tale of two weeks, but we've got to own this thing. "As coaches and players, we've got to own it, and we've got to fix it." Every point mattered. Every timeout mattered. The Irish didn't get enough of the former, clearly, and they burned through one of the latter early in the second half when it would have come more in handy late to save time on the clock before the eventual game-win- ning kick — and right before Notre Dame tried a would-be game-winning kick of its own. Mitch Jeter's Hail Mary of a 62-yard attempt was blocked, the second time the opposing team got its hands on a booted ball. He also had a 48-yarder knocked down at the end of the first half. It was a Murphy's Law kind of af- ternoon for the Irish; whatever could go wrong did go wrong. "It's the entire program that under- achieved today," Freeman said. "The en- tire program has to own it and improve from it." NIU only scored 16 points, but Free- man said it wasn't a banner day for the defensive side of the ball. He's right; it wasn't. The Irish allowed NIU senior running back Antario Brown to go for 225 yards from scrimmage on 22 touches before he was injured in the second half. After Notre Dame took an early 7-0 lead on a grind-it-out 13-play, 75-yard drive on its first possession, Brown re- sponded with an 83-yard touchdown catch-and-run to signal it'd be a tight game all afternoon. That it was. NIU led 13-7 at halftime. Notre Dame had a tough time running through or around the Huskies. It literally took jumping over them for the Irish to get into the end zone for the only time fol- lowing the opening drive. Sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love hurdled NIU safety Nate Valcarcel and ran 30 more yards into the end zone to give the Irish the lead midway through the third quarter. The Notre Dame defense made a few key stops in the second half after that, including a fourth-down pass defended by sophomore linebacker Jaiden Aus- berry with the Huskies looking to ex- tend a drive on the Irish 30-yard line. On NIU's next possession, NIU quar- terback Ethan Hampton fired an incom- plete pass over the middle of the field on third-and-6. Notre Dame couldn't get the final score it needed to put the game away, though. The Irish leaned on Leonard to secure it, but it was nowhere to be found. Just the opposite. Hampton completed 10 of 19 throws for 198 yards with 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions. Leonard connected on 20 of 32 passes for 163 yards with 0 touch- downs and 2 interceptions. He didn't do anything to assure Irish fans he's got an arm capable of carrying this team to and through the College Football Play- off. His second interception, the inde- fensible downfield under-throw, was exactly what the Irish couldn't have ex- actly when they couldn't have it. "Bad eyes, bad feet, bad ball," he said. Bad loss. Period. FIRST QUARTER NORTHERN ILLINOIS 10, NOTRE DAME 7 Top moment: Hampton somehow fit a pass into double coverage where only Brown could catch it. After junior Notre Dame cornerback Benjamin Morrison went for the ball and missed, Brown was gone. He went 83 yards for a game-tying touchdown. Feature performer: Brown finished the quarter with 163 yards from scrim- mage, 37 on the ground and 126 through the air. All other NIU players had 8. Stats: NIU threw for 126 yards (all to Brown) to Notre Dame's 47. The Irish went 2 of 3 on third downs, while the Huskies went 1 of 2. Items: Leonard scored his first touchdown in an Irish uniform on an 11-yard run … Leonard threw his first interception on a tipped pass caught by senior Huskies linebacker Christian Fuhrman … NIU fooled the Irish on a double pass, but redshirt senior wide receiver Trayvon Rudolph missed a wide-open man in the end zone. SECOND QUARTER NORTHERN ILLINOIS 13, NOTRE DAME 7 Top moment: Jeter entered the game 23 of 23 on field goals under 50 yards in his college career. That streak ended on the last play of the first half when senior NIU defensive tackle Cade Haberman blocked his 48-yard attempt. Feature performer: Notre Dame's offense did next to nothing thanks in part to senior Huskies defensive tackle Devonte O'Malley, who collected a sack and 2 tackles for loss. Sophomore wide receiver Jaden Greathouse and the Irish let one slip through their fingers against a determined NIU team. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER