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SOUTH BEND — After watching Notre Dame football dismantle Georgia’s budding dynasty in the Sugar Bowl, Northern Illinois coach Thomas Hammock found himself offering the enthusiastic praise the Irish weren’t ready to accept four months ago.
“What a well-coached football team Notre Dame is,” Hammock said in a phone interview. “Just the situational awareness, how they handled different points of that game, how they were able to take advantage of miscues by Georgia. They looked well-prepared, and obviously, they’re playing their best football at the right time.”
Since face-planting against Hammock’s Huskies on Sept. 7, Notre Dame (13-1) has won 12 straight games to earn a spot in Thursday’s Orange Bowl against sixth-seeded Penn State (13-2). Seeded seventh, coach Marcus Freeman’s Irish take the longest active winning streak at the FBS level into this College Football Playoff semifinal.
And it has all happened despite a torrent of injuries and defections that cost Notre Dame a slew of key contributors who weren’t able to stop NIU, a Mid-American Conference program that went on to finish 8-5 with a win over Fresno State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
From captains Benjamin Morrison and Rylie Mills to starters Jordan Botelho, Ashton Craig, and Boubacar Traore on through Jaden Mickey and Jason Onye, the Irish have had to reinvent their depth chart along the way.
“That’s a credit to Coach Freeman and his staff,” Hammock said. “He’s built a well-rounded football team with depth and talent throughout the roster. Then you have to say they’re doing a phenomenal job of coaching and developing their whole team.
“They lost their starting defensive tackle (Mills) before this last game, and the next guy out there (Gabriel Rubio) looked like he was just as good. Talk about a well-built team all the…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/niu-coach-thomas-hammock-suitably-131507547.html
Author : South Bend Tribune
Publish date : 2025-01-06 13:15:00
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