Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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8 SEPT. 21, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Blame It On The Quarterback/Play Calling By Todd D. Burlage Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman did his best to defend the poor play of Irish senior quarterback Riley Leonard after the stunning 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois Sept. 7. The big-money Duke transfer completed 20 of 32 passes for 163 yards with no touchdowns and 2 critical interceptions that the Huskies turned into six points, including the three points that won the game. "We've got a lot of belief in Riley," Freeman insisted. Under Leonard, the Irish offense entered play against Purdue Sept. 14 averaging only 18.5 points per game and as one of only five teams in the coun- try still without a touchdown pass. For Leonard, he rated 118th nationally in passing efficiency out of 125 quarterbacks listed. That said, Leonard shouldn't take all the blame for the rough Irish offensive start. High-priced Notre Dame offensive coordi- nator Mike Denbrock did little calling plays in the upset loss, and even less to help Leonard. Most memorably, on a critical second-and-1 play against NIU with the Irish leading 14-13 midway through the fourth quarter, instead of working the clock and perhaps pushing the lead to 17-13 or 21-13, Denbrock called a downfield pass play that Leonard missed on badly and had intercepted. Eleven plays later, the Huskies parlayed that bad turnover into a game-winning field goal. Freeman is saying all the right things as Leonard and Denbrock try to build a chemistry. But until they consistently find one, this Irish team will remain ripe this season for many more NIU moments. The Main Issue Permeates The Entire Program By Jack Soble Notre Dame's quarterback play (Leonard) and offensive performance (Den- brock) are issues that need to be addressed. But that wasn't the main issue in a shocking upset loss to NIU. The root of the problem was that the Irish did something they swore they'd never do again after their loss to Marshall in 2022. They overlooked their opponent, believing they could just walk into Notre Dame Stadium and win by virtue of show- ing up. Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman ad- mitted as much in his press conference Sept. 9. Not that he needed to — it was obvious from the missed assignments and uninspired play from the opening kickoff — but he did. "We have to challenge ourselves to make sure no matter who our opponent is, that physically and mentally, our approach to the game is the same way," Freeman said. "That, to me, is really what we have to learn from this." It is absolutely inexplicable that the Irish didn't learn it two years ago. They probably shouldn't have needed to learn it in the first place, but back then, Freeman was a first-time head coach learning how to lead a program. Notre Dame was supposed to be past this, but it happened again. If the Irish took the Huskies seriously — and they're a good football team who should contend for the MAC title — the rhetoric would be, "Leonard wasn't good but they won the game and they have time to figure it out." That, to state the obvious, is not the case. Point ✦ Counterpoint: WHAT IS MOST TO BLAME FOR NOTRE DAME'S LOSS TO NORTHERN ILLINOIS? If you want a case study in performance and re- liability, look no further than Notre Dame gradu- ate student defensive tackle Rylie Mills. Reliabil- ity-wise, the 2024 Irish team captain and sturdy second-year starter had played in 49 consecutive games — through Week 2 — dating back to his freshman year in 2020. Performance-wise, the Chicagoland native en- tered this season with a good chance of becom- ing an All-American and an NFL Draft pick next spring. Mills entered this season with 94 tackles, 16.5 stops for loss and 9.5 sacks in his career. In 13 starts last season, the 6-foot-5, 295-pound disruptive menace finished with 47 tackles, which ranked third among all Irish defensive linemen and tied for sixth on the Notre Dame defense. Mills added 5.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, and a team-best 2 fumble recoveries in 2023. A preseason Lombardi Award watch list selec- tion, Mills chose to put NFL pursuits on hold and return for his graduate season, teaming up with graduate student nose tackle Howard Cross III as arguably the best interior lineman tandem in the country. Blue & Gold Illustrated and other local media caught up with Mills before the Purdue game to dis- cuss the season so far, including trying to right the ship after the 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois Sept. 7. BGI: What was the mood of the guys after that rough loss? Mills: "Nobody likes feeling like that but that's what football is. You can have the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. It's how you bounce back, how you respond." BGI: How do you rebound from such a tough loss? Mills: "We have to get back to playing our brand of football. There may have been too many times when we were playing the way [NIU] wanted us to. If we play our football, we're a good team. But when we get away from that, that's when you see [negative] results." BGI: How would you describe the mood of the team after the defeat? Mills: "As bad as it is, there are some positives you can take away from it. We can get better, and we know where our standards with football are. We've seen that when we're firing on all cylinders how we can play. How can we get back to that, and how can we use that as motivation to get through the rest of the season?" BGI: What's the underlying theme moving through the locker room? Mills: "There is going to be some adversity. Do I wish it was that kind of adversity? No. But I can't control that. Nobody can control that. "It's really how we respond to this situation and how we turn this into something positive, instead of just getting frustrated by it, and then have it something that just hangs over us." BGI: What's the secret to turning the page and focusing on the future, not the past? Mills: "It's why the rearview window is so much smaller than the front window of a car. There is so much more we can do. And, if we're just sitting there looking back at what happened, that's go- ing to distract us." — Todd D. Burlage Five Questions With … GRADUATE STUDENT DEFENSIVE TACKLE RYLIE MILLS Mills entered this season with 94 total stops, 16.5 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks in his career. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER Riley Leonard Marcus Freeman