I think one thing most people don't consider is that an 11-1 Notre Dame with the loss to NIU was much better set up to make a deep run than a 12-0 Notre Dame team.
Marcus Freeman and Thomas Hammock (NIU's coach) had a lengthy discussion after the upset about what allowed NIU to pull it off. Freeman, to his credit, was open and listened. He used the adversity to get his team better which ultimately led to them being a buzzsaw down the stretch and making a run to the National Championship game. Without the NIU loss, I don't know if Freeman and company make those necessary changes. Plus, in the playoff era, an early loss is better than a late loss. Who knows if some other team would stumble on the NIU formula and pull of an upset down the line?
One of the trade-offs around this new expanded College Football Playoff is that the "what-ifs" are now not necessarily as much cases where a team didn't do something and missed the playoff, but cases where a team overcame something to make a run because there was more margin for error to get into the playoff. Ohio State and Notre Dame both would have seen their playoff chances ruined by losses that, in the past, would be rued forever as "what-ifs". Instead, now the what-if is a question of whether they would have gone as far as they did without the adversity as a reality check. Very different from the what-ifs of past seasons.
Absolutely! This new format is much more forgiving in the regular season and I’m hopeful that means we get closer to crowning the best team every season…not just the one who went unscathed.
I think one thing most people don't consider is that an 11-1 Notre Dame with the loss to NIU was much better set up to make a deep run than a 12-0 Notre Dame team.
Marcus Freeman and Thomas Hammock (NIU's coach) had a lengthy discussion after the upset about what allowed NIU to pull it off. Freeman, to his credit, was open and listened. He used the adversity to get his team better which ultimately led to them being a buzzsaw down the stretch and making a run to the National Championship game. Without the NIU loss, I don't know if Freeman and company make those necessary changes. Plus, in the playoff era, an early loss is better than a late loss. Who knows if some other team would stumble on the NIU formula and pull of an upset down the line?
I totally understand *why* but man, I really wish we could’ve found out just what Hammond shared with Freeman. Would’ve been pretty fascinating.
But totally agree. Adversity molded 2024 Notre Dame. Without it, I’m skeptical they reach those same lofty heights.
You and me both, Tyler. It would've been great to be a fly on the wall of that conversation.
Came here to basically say the same thing Griffin 👍🏼
I think that's what makes this scenario so interesting, isn't it Henry?
One of the trade-offs around this new expanded College Football Playoff is that the "what-ifs" are now not necessarily as much cases where a team didn't do something and missed the playoff, but cases where a team overcame something to make a run because there was more margin for error to get into the playoff. Ohio State and Notre Dame both would have seen their playoff chances ruined by losses that, in the past, would be rued forever as "what-ifs". Instead, now the what-if is a question of whether they would have gone as far as they did without the adversity as a reality check. Very different from the what-ifs of past seasons.
Absolutely! This new format is much more forgiving in the regular season and I’m hopeful that means we get closer to crowning the best team every season…not just the one who went unscathed.
They still would have lost to the Buckeyes
For sure. Ohio State proved it was the best team.