While watching Notre Dame play the Texas A&M Aggies on Saturday night — I didn’t give much thought as to what might be next for the Irish if they lost. It wasn’t that I was confident in an Irish victory for most of the game — far from it, actually. No, it’s just hard to predict an unpredictable future while there is so much uncertainty in the air (like the outcome of a close game).
Still… it’s the question I’m asking now. Where do the Irish go from here at 0-2 with an uninspired (for now) schedule
ahead of them? Freeman gave a perfectly fine answer in the post game presser about the unpredictable future and the next game, but it still doesn’t provide any type of clarity about the team and its direction.
Losing a close game in the final minute to a top 16 team isn’t cause for setting buildings on fire, but losing two in a row to start the season has fans ready to torch the place while everyone else is calling the fire department.
The two biggest strengths we thought Notre Dame had this year were its secondary and its run game (with the O-line and RB combo). So far — neither has looked the part, and in the case of the secondary, alarm bells are ringing. The Irish gave up 360 yards to Marcel Reed with an average completion of over 21 yards. That would be unthinkable to say out loud just a few weeks ago.
Notre Dame is really good about taking accountability for their mistakes, but now they have to rectify all that is going wrong, and I’m not sure if they can. This is an extremely talented team, but the combination of play and coaching finally has proved the haters right about the Irish being overrated.
So you tell me… what’s next? What becomes of this team, this season, and this program? The Irish basically did a victory lap all offseason following the loss in the championship game — almost like a prelude to another run. The run, however, just tripped and fell into Saint Joseph’s Lake.
