Reusse: Notre Dame’s tragic downfall has Irish Catholics rolling over in their graves

Northern Illinois had an extra-strong run of five seasons beginning in 2010, when a 10-3 regular season got coach Jerry Kill the job at Minnesota, followed by four more years of double-digit wins with Wayzata’s Rod Carey as the head coach.

The Huskies then settled in for a decade of mediocrity starting in 2015. Thomas Hammock, a Gophers assistant during the golden age of Tim Brewster, became the NIU head coach in 2019. He took a 24-27 record into this season, as long as you throw out the 0-6 during the 2020 pandemic schedule.

On Saturday, the Huskies accepted $1.4 million to play a road game in Notre Dame Stadium, and they defeated the No. 5-ranked Irish, 16-14. Notably, Notre Dame’s free-agent quarterback from Duke — Riley Leonard — put on a performance that would have embarrassed Athan Kaliakmanis.

It was such a horrendous loss that it got me reflecting about those days on the shores of Fulda Lake, looking directly across at St. Gabriel’s Catholic Church, and my mother’s strong belief in The Commandments, including No. 11: “Cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame.”

She was Jane Cecilia McDonough, and there were also my aunts, Helen (McDonough by birth, O’Rourke by marriage), and Peggy (O’Malley by birth, McDonough by marriage), and I couldn’t help but feel all those decades ago, Notre Dame losing a football game to a team called Northern Illinois.

That would have created a crisis of faith for those Irish saints of my upbringing.

Notre Dame didn’t lose to Northern Illinois. The Irish wouldn’t consider playing Northern Illinois. Or Central Michigan. Or Tennessee State.

Or Marshall University, which by the way wound up with a receiver named Randy Moss in the mid-’90s, after his first commitment was to Notre Dame and Lou Holtz, before someone in South Bend got righteous over a fight at Randy’s high school.

Holtz had won the national championship for ‘em for the 1988 season, and that’s the thanks he got from the administration a few years later: No, Lou, you can’t have one of the five best receivers in football history.

More recently, the aptly-named Brian Kelly had a strong 12-year run at Notre Dame. He flipped to LSU after an 11-1 regular season in 2021, accepting a $9 million annual salary that tripled what he was making in South Bend.

Assistant Marcus Freeman was promoted. He turned 36 on Jan. 10, nine days after coaching in a 37-35 loss to Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl. He lost a 2022 season opener to Ohio State, and then to Marshall, 26-21, in Freeman’s first home game.

It was early. He was given benediction for that one. Repeating that two years later against Northern Illinois, with three projected NFL first-rounders and another in the second, and with solid NIL funding … yes, there are concerns among the faithful.

Keith Arnold is a 1998 graduate of Cretin-Derham Hall. He went to Notre Dame, walked on in baseball for a couple of years, and developed an Irish football addiction. He’s done well in the financial world, spent a while learning the movie business, and has produced films with Pierce Brosnan (”The November Man,” remember that one?) and now with Harry Connick Jr. (with the surprise Netflix hit, “Find Me Falling”).

Arnold, who spent nine years writing “Inside the Irish” for NBC Sports, the home of Irish home games, had some things to say following the tragedy.

“I was writing that for the end of the Charlie Weis era, and then for Brian Kelly,” Arnold said. “When Kelly left, we were told Marcus Freeman was a very popular choice with the players. And he’s a great person with involvement in the campus and in the area … no doubt there.

“He’s gotten two new five-year extensions from the administration, and he’s been in GQ Magazine.”

“All that’s true, but nobody cares about that, if you’re going to be losing to Northern Illinois. You have to wonder about the coaching after that.”

“Lots of transfer quarterbacks in the portal, and they said, ‘This is our guy — Leonard.’ Then, you see the way the ball came out on Saturday and you have to wonder about their judgment.”

“They have a talented defense with NFL picks and Northern Illinois runs it down their throats when the game is on the line.”

Arnold was bombarded with messages on Saturday. “This is by far the grumpiest the hardcore Notre Dame followers have been with Freeman,” he said. “Overall, it was gross to watch that performance.”

Jane Cecelia McDonough would have settled for a couple of extra Hail Marys.