Newsstand: What Greg McElroy said about Notre Dame’s upset loss to NIU
As Notre Dame looks to rebound from its Week 2 loss to NIU, more and more national analysts aren’t buying the Irish. One of them is Greg McElroy, who expressed concern about their ceiling on ESPN’s “Always College Football” podcast.
Here’s an excerpt from what McElroy said about the Irish.
“I think they’ll still probably be in a good position to get in the playoff, but man, they’re just not elite offensively. And they didn’t showcase any level of elite play when they played A&M. Like I think their (running) backs are good. I think the offensive line played pretty good down the stretch, but that offensive line and that offense, really in general, not good. The interception, too, by Riley Leonard. I know, look, he was a little bit banged up.
“They say he has an upper-body injury into the first half, all this other stuff. But that interception with six minutes left was just, it’s just an inexcusable decision. I mean, it’s an inexcusable, it just can’t happen. You absolutely can’t happen. You give the ball back to them, they’re at the 50 yard line, they can go down, kick the game-winning field goal. Just can’t happen. The guy’s played too much football to make a mistake like that.
“I think Notre Dame has a lot of soul-searching to do, and Marcus Freeman hasn’t quite figured out the recipe. You read about their preparation this week, super physical Tuesday practice, super physical Wednesday practice, trying to jump-start the engine, not allowing them to kind of rest on their laurels because they’ve run into this situation in the past.
“Hey, they’re reading their press clippings a bit, great performance, great win, and then boom, come back the next week, not good. We’ve seen them play poorly in weeks, too, in the past. So Marcus Freeman may be adjusting his approach, and it just hasn’t taken yet.
For the full “Always College Football” podcast episode, click here.
Notre Dame Tweets of the day
Cool tradition, but not one the Irish want to be a part of.
One Notre Dame player who has had a great year so far: Jeremiyah Love.
Still disheartening.
Quote of the day
“You guys have all dissected the tape. I mean, you’ve seen it. You know the answer to those questions already. But, I mean, he just has to make a better decision on second-and-1, and I’ve got to do a good job of assessing whether we can really put him in those situations until he’s ready to handle them, too. We could have run the football again and got a first down and continued the drive. I’ve got to analyze all that stuff and make sure I’m making good decisions where he’s concerned and not putting him in jeopardy if it could lead to a bad decision. And there were opportunities there to make a big play, and we didn’t get it done, and that’s on me. And, unfortunately, we’ve got to do a bit better job there.”
— Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock on where senior quarterback Riley Leonard should have thrown the ball on is second-and-1 interception in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s loss to NIU
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