The Shocking Loss That Turned Notre Dame Into a Contender

No one expected kicker Mitch Jeter to add a new chapter to Notre Dame's football lore when he strode onto the field to attempt a field goal in a September showdown against lowly Northern Illinois. Even fewer expected it when his 62-yard attempt was blocked, consigning the Fighting Irish to one of the more embarrassing defeats since they first took the field in 1887.

But four months on, it turns out that a botched field goal against a no-name opponent in a forgettable early-season loss may one day occupy its own spot in the annals of this team's storied history. According to Notre Dame players, coaches and administrators, that inauspicious miss actually represents the single most important episode in a memorable season that could soon deliver Notre Dame its first national championship in a generation.

"Culture is revealed in tough moments," coach Marcus Freeman said.

Without that loss to Northern Illinois, Notre Dame might not have put in the requisite work or undertaken the necessary soul-searching that catapulted the program to last week's Sugar Bowl win over Georgia, its first major bowl game victory in more than three decades. Without that loss, they might be back home now instead of getting ready to play against Penn State in Thursday's College Football Playoff semifinal.

"We had to improve," Freeman said. "You had a lot to improve from that Northern Illinois performance. We have done that-and now you're seeing a consistent football team."

In college football these days, coaches present every loss as a teachable moment and an opportunity for their players to learn and improve. But for a team like Notre Dame, this was more than just lip service.

As one of just three independent schools in major college football, the Fighting Irish don't have an opportunity to bolster their case for a playoff berth by winning a conference championship game late in the season. As a result, every regular season outing takes on outsized importance.

Suffering a defeat so early in the season-and to a team as unfancied as Northern Illinois-served to ratchet up the stakes in South Bend during a season when most other coaches insisted that early losses weren't a death knell to their playoff hopes and that their conference championship games still offered a pathway to the newly expanded postseason.

Granted, Notre Dame might still have squeezed into the 12-team playoff with a second loss-this year's field included seven two-loss teams, plus three-loss Clemson. But Freeman and his team weren't about to leave that to chance.

"This program has kind of felt that pressure since the Northern Illinois game," said Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua. "We felt like we've had playoff game after playoff game after playoff game."

The defeat to Northern Illinois also gave the Fighting Irish a blueprint for avoiding further upsets. The difference on that September day was that the Huskies played a cleaner game. They didn't turn the ball over, they ate up the clock by leaning on their run game, and they picked off Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard twice.

By the end, as Notre Dame's players filed back into their locker room past the iconic "Play Like a Champion Today" sign, they knew they hadn't. "That was a very low time," said running back Jeremiyah Love.

The biggest change the team needed to make, according to Love, had nothing to do with their offensive or defensive scheme. "We didn't know how to handle success after we came off our first big win against Texas A&M," he said.

There were some smaller mistakes to clean up, too. Freeman put an emphasis on eliminating turnovers on offense and forcing them on defense. The Fighting Irish never finished another game with a negative turnover margin.