How Notre Dame Persevered In Face of Tragedy

17 hours before the original kickoff of the 2025 Sugar Bowl between Notre Dame and Georgia, New Orleans and the entire country were rocked with the news that a man drove a truck down Bourbon Street and opened fire, killing 15 and injuring dozens more. 

The aftermath of the attack left the entire city — on what was supposed to be a joyous day celebrating a new year and the tradition of the historic Sugar Bowl — in a state of mourning, unsure of what was next. 

It left members of the Notre Dame football team locked inside their hotel questioning if they were going to be playing the biggest game of their lives that night — and a lot more. 

“Just being so close to our hotel and we’re in the city, people losing their lives — kind of helps you rethink about life,” safety Adon Shuler said after the game, which was shifted to Thursday.

Everyone came to the realization pretty fast that football was secondary to the events that took place early Wednesday morning — no matter how big the game. 

“I think yesterday was tough,” linebacker Jack Kiser said. “I think it’s tough for this city, tough for this country, just a horrible, horrible thing. I think everybody knew that football wasn’t bigger than that event.” 

So, as the Irish began to be hit with the emotions of the attack, they came together the same way they have all year — as a team.  

“We spent some time together,” head coach Marcus Freeman said. “And I think that's what you do in tough moments. You want to spend time with family, and that's what we are. But they found a way to get prepared for this opportunity and refocus.” 

As the players continued to grapple with the tragic events, just like everyone else in the city and country, it became clear that this wasn’t going to go away. 

“Very chaotic,” Shuler said. “Definitely a shaky mindset but we had to readjust as a team and just keep our mindset the same.” 

And as the day progressed, it was announced that the Sugar Bowl would be postponed to Thursday at 3:00 p.m. local time, giving the city time to investigate the attack and better prepare for the game in terms of security. The Irish stayed at their hotel for the remainder of the day, holding meetings and a team run inside their hotel. 

But later that night Freeman did something a little unusual for the night before a game. He allowed his players to spend time with their families, regrouping after the day’s events. 

“There was a time yesterday evening that I wanted our players to spend some time with their families that were here,” Freeman said. “Being a parent myself, in times of tragedy, you want to be around your children.

“I gave the players from about 6-9 last night just a chance to go be with your family, if they're in town. I think that helped the parents as much as it helped the players to be around each other, and to help them reset and get their mind into a place that it needed to be for today.”

While there are no positives you can spin from what happened on Bourbon Street, Notre Dame did spend the extra time it was given to continue to prepare for its biggest challenge yet. 

“As a player, and as a Notre Dame player, you recruit the right people for a reason,” quarterback Riley Leonard said. “I think adding another day is just helping our superpower out. We say our superpowers all the time: Our preparation and the character in our locker room. Those are two intangible things that we have that we utilize.

“So to have an extra day, after we got done praying for all the families, I hit up my quarterback coach and said, ‘All right, can we watch some film tonight?’ I got four, five more hours of film study. We had another day of walkthrough. That's our superpower, is our preparation; and I think it definitely paid off today.”

There was no forgetting what happened just hours before, but the reality was the ball was going to be kicked and the lines were going to be drawn. It wasn’t going to be the easiest task to stand across from another and try to physically and mentally defeat them. 

“You look at the maturity of this team, and how this team has responded all year…that just shows the type of culture we have, the type of leadership we have,” Kiser said. 

“To be able to understand what’s important at that moment, but then also how do we respond, how do we adapt and how do we make the most of such a tragedy? I think we were able to do that, and we were able to win tonight and that’s a big deal.” 

But as Notre Dame ran out of the tunnel of the Caesar’s Superdome, Pat Coogan with the American flag draped on his shoulder, there was a sense this team wouldn’t let the events of Jan. 1st define them. Instead, this group rallied around it, once again making them stronger in the face of adversity. 

“It's unprecedented. Life -- you know, I told them this morning, there's things in life that are unpredictable,” Freeman said. “The ability to handle those unpredictable things determine the success. And they handled this incident, this change, but they handle everything that's thrown at them in an unbelievable way.”

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