Marcus Freeman still hasn’t mastered the most underrated part of coaching American football at a major school: beating the teams you’re supposed to beat.

Notre Dame’s coach can now add a stunning home loss from Saturday to 28-point underdog Northern Illinois on a resume that already includes home games against Marshall and a Stanford team that was in the midst of a 3-9 season in 2022.

“We’ve been here before,” Freeman told reporters.

Something like that. This one is much worse.

This is Freeman’s third year leading the Fighting Irish. He’s still a young coach at 38, but inexperience is no longer an excuse. For Freeman or his team.

“It’s our job as coaches to make sure these guys are ready to go. I’ve always said that performance is a reflection of preparation,” he said.

Notre Dame entered Week 2 in fifth place after a blowout win over Texas A&M. It appeared that the team might have the most viable path to the College Football Playoff in the country, starting with a Mid-American Conference team at home.

The Fighting Irish scored a touchdown on their first touch of the ball and scored only once more the rest of the day: a third-quarter touchdown by Jeremiyah Love that gave them a 14-13 lead.

It looked like it would be enough for a moment, but new Notre Dame transfer quarterback Riley Leonard and the offense could never add anything more. When Leonard threw a horrific, under-thrown interception that put the Huskies at midfield with about six minutes left, you could almost feel the fear building beneath Touchdown Jesus.

Even with the help of a few obvious refereeing errors in the final minute — a mis-spotted ball cost NIU a first down and then the officials forgot to run the clock after a count — the Irish ultimately couldn’t save it.

Northern Illinois outgained Notre Dame by 102 yards, was better on third down and possessed the ball for nearly 10 more minutes.

“We’re 1-1. We have to accept that. But we’ve got a long season ahead of us,” safety Xavier Watts told reporters.

But how?

Freeman was hired with great enthusiasm when Brian Kelly left for LSU. Yes, he was a first-time head coach, but he seemed to be the complete opposite of Kelly in every way.

He connected with players and fans in a way Kelly never had. He was present, passionate and charismatic.

Over the course of 12 years, Kelly won more games than any other coach in Notre Dame’s illustrious history, but he was never well-liked in South Bend.

It took Kelly several years to figure out the formula for success at Notre Dame, and he suffered many of these types of losses early in his career to teams like Tulsa, Navy and South Florida.

Things clicked for Kelly in 2017, with the Irish having seven straight 10-win seasons and two four-way playoff appearances. Kelly was criticized for his teams not being able to win the biggest games or compete with the very best.

But he performed superbly in the games he was expected to win and the Irish fans couldn’t help but applaud him.

It’s not the sexiest trait for a college football coach, but avoiding becoming the biggest news of the weekend by losing to a huge underdog helps keep the peace.

According to Fox Sports’ Chris Fallica, there have been 28 losses to a home team by at least 16 points in college football since 2022. Freeman’s teams are now responsible for three of those losses.

The hope was that Freeman would take the Irish to the level that Kelly never reached. Year 3 is historically a big year for Notre Dame coaches, filled with national titles and championship game appearances.

By all accounts, this seemed like the Freemans team with the highest ceiling — though perhaps we’re underestimating the problems a completely rebuilding offensive line would pose. Still, that can’t be exposed against the MAC team in the home opener.

“Yes, this is horrible, but Game 2. We’ve got at least 10 games to go,” Notre Dame defensive tackle Howard Cross said.

He’s right. The 12-team College Football Playoff changes everything this year, but Notre Dame was already at risk of coming under intense scrutiny from the selection committee with a schedule that doesn’t look particularly packed.

Maybe that’ll change. Louisville is ranked No. 22. No. 13 USC is off to a hot start after beating Kelly’s LSU team.

It feels like it’s far-fetched.

“We have to own this. Every coach. Everyone here. We all have to own this,” Freeman said.

Yes, that will definitely happen.

Michigan’s Miss

You could say No. 3 Texas’ Blowout Against No. 10 Michigan was decided in the first half, but in reality the decision was likely made last December when the Wolverines skipped the transfer window.

To be fair, Michigan was on its way to winning the national title with Jim Harbaugh as head coach, and anyone with internet access knew he would most likely return to the NFL.

Not exactly an ideal way to begin rebuilding a roster that was on the verge of sending more than a dozen players to the NFL.

Still, in this era of free agency in college football, it’s hard to believe that Michigan’s new coach, Sherrone Moore, entered the season with this quarterback situation.

Davis Warren is a great story, a cancer survivor who is better than your average player, but right now he doesn’t look like a player who should be starting for a playoff-eligible team.

Alex Orji seemed like the heir apparent to first-round draft pick JJ McCarthy, despite throwing just six career passes during his first two seasons at Michigan. If nothing else, the 6-foot-3, 235-pound Texan would have been a running threat for the Wolverines’ offense. But he was outplayed by Warren, who threw two interceptions against Texas and passed for just 73 yards through three quarters.

A transfer quarterback is no sure thing, as Kentucky and Florida State are discovering. But how would Ohio State’s Kyle McCord (eight touchdown passes in two games for Syracuse ) Have you looked at a Corn and a Blue-winged Helmet this year?

How about something more along the lines of a developmental player? Alabama transfer Eli Holstein has six touchdown passes and two 300-yard passing games in a league-leading Pitt starts 2-0. Texas Transfer Maalik Murphy puts Duke up 2-0, with five touchdown passes.

Of course, this isn’t just a quarterback problem for Michigan’s offense. It’s the most glaring problem.

“I never really thought about the growing pains, but more about what we can do to get better,” Moore said. “We knew we were a new team. We never try to rest on our laurels that we won the national championship last year.”

Around the country

Freeman could use some advice from Penn State coach James Franklin. The eighth-ranked Nittany Lions allowed 24 points and 289 yards and trailed Bowling Green (another MAC team) in the first half before righting everything that was wrong at halftime and winning a match by one score. Penn State fans probably weren’t happy, but a close loss is still a win, so Happy Valley is still a better place to be than South Bend this weekend. … Big 12 prospects No. 16 Oklahoma State and No. 17 Kansas State both needed second-half rallies to win tough nonconference games. The Cowboys allowed 648 yards to Taylen Green (another pretty good transfer quarterback) and Arkansas, but took advantage of a bunch of Razorbacks’ mistakes to win in double overtime.… Needing a late scoop-and-score, the Wildcats took advantage of an offensive pass interference penalty on Tulane, to emerge from New Orleans undefeated.

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Follow Ralph D. Russo on https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP

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