ESPN slams Notre Dame for ‘devastating’ Week 2 loss to Northern Illinois

You had to expect this to be coming, the national media was not going to hold back on their thoughts about Notre Dame football’s terrible performance against Northern Illinois.

The Irish fell to an underdog at home yet again under Marcus Freeman, and the sting is still being left on Monday. ESPN’s Bill Connelly wrapped up this past weekend of college football action (subscription required), and was very critical of the loss.

Notre Dame looked like they’d be a shoo-in for the College Football Playoff after Week 1’s win over Texas A&M, but even if they finish 10-2, Connelly thinks “they’ll be at the back of a line of two-loss teams, most of which will feature harder schedules and no loss as bad as this one.”

It’s the unfortunate reality of the situation, the Irish don’t have much of a margin for error for the remainder of the season. Connelly called the it “as devastating as a loss can be in Week 2 of a season.” Not the best position to be in just a few games into the year.

While the season still has plenty of games left to play, the pressure will be on Notre Dame to be perfect, something that we’ve seen they’ve struggled to be.

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