The Penalty Box: the Irishman didn’t look ready

There are things that I believe to be true, and there are things that I know to be true.

Unlike some people, I’m not afraid to admit that I don’t know the answer to the question, but I’ll try to help people by sharing an informed opinion or giving them potential options on the subject by question.

I know one of the worst things you can say or write about a team is that they looked unprepared. It hits the coaches to the core, because when a team seems unprepared, it reflects badly on the coach and his assistants.

Honestly, Notre Dame looked unprepared in its loss to Marshall on Saturday.

There was little to no passion in their game.

There was little or no sense of urgency.

There was no sense of momentum.

Simply put, every time they did something right in this game, they immediately turned around and did something wrong – or multiple things – that made them worse than before.

The best example is when Notre Dame took the lead in the second half. We Irish fans were hoping it would lead to a dominating finish and a win the team could learn from and build on.

What happened was the defense gave up a huge play right after that, and there was a real feeling that things were going to end badly…and they did.

A poorly thrown pass on the sidelines with a defender waiting in the weeds to hook it led to an interception return for a touchdown that put the game out of reach, the fans in the stadium in their seats and the fans heading home to do something else.

Not that the fans in the stands were much help on Saturday. Frankly, it was as if the 80,000 people in attendance had arrived to witness a landslide victory and were barely engaged in the proceedings.

Of course, they didn’t have much to cheer about either.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

Yeah, they lost a game to Ohio State in Columbus that they could have won. No one expected much from the boys that night. A victory would have been a spectacular surprise.

Now…well, now it’s hard to qualify what this loss and how it unfolded means overall.

This new head coach, who the players cheered and embraced when Brian Kelly left in the middle of the night for the bayou, is now 0-3 as the Irish leader.

Is it Marcus Freeman’s fault? I don’t think so, but ultimately these things fall on the shoulders of the man with the biggest office.

It’s Freeman, and if this keeps up, he won’t be in the big office long.

I know what you’re thinking, and you’re right, it’s only been two games. But when you’re ND and you lose in your first home game to Marshall, your margin for error is completely gone. This man full of energy and passion coaches a team that certainly showed none of that on Saturday.

Freeman says they will assess every aspect of the program and fix what needs fixing.

It’s great, but there aren’t enough hours in the day and days of the week before another team arrives in South Bend with a renewed sense of opportunity to claim their own glory. and smear the Irish more.

When you can’t block and can throw a forward pass in college football in 2022, you’re in big trouble.

That’s where Notre Dame is right now.

They have absolutely no identity in attack. You can’t even say “we can run this game and we know it will get us five yards”.

If I was the in-game caller, I wouldn’t have the first idea what to call. It’s like being in a boat in the middle of a giant lake, and the engine isn’t running, and you don’t have oars. All you can do is sit back and hope the wind blows you in the direction you want to go.

It’s not winning at football. Damn, it’s nothing to win.

Monday’s practice has become a pivotal moment for Marcus Freeman and the Irish. Will what he told them resonate in their hearts?

If it doesn’t, nothing will… and the season will be lost.