Lessons Learned In Miami
Notre Dame had its worst showing of the season last Saturday in Miami, but there are lessons to be taken from the 41-8 loss to the Hurricanes. Greer Martini, Mike McGlinchey, and Drue Tranquill have been through the ups and downs of college football over the last few years, and there were valuable lessons they took away from the loss.
“I think that at a high stage, especially being in Miami there's like a lot of external factors that came into that game, whether that being how loud it was, whether it's like coming in on the buses, just seeing all the different fans,” stated Martini on Wednesday afternoon. “As a team, we need to learn how to get rid of those external factors and just focus on what's important, and that's winning.”
For McGlinchey, the two captain was vocal about bringing attention to detail but also making sure the team is prepared to handle each situation they could face in an environment such as last weekend.
“College football is a crazy beast and no matter what the Saturday is or what your opponent is, you have to bring it to the best of your ability because as hard of a thing you have to do is win every Saturday,” said McGlinchey. “Miami was certainly a fantastic opponent, and it was an unbelievable atmosphere. Having that kind of an experience to draw from, and we didn't come out on the right side of that, but I think that gaining that experience, especially for our younger guys and for the team and the program as a whole, getting a little taste of where we could be is just that much more of a driving force.
“That kind of a feeling you don't ever want to have, and coming out of the side that we did on Saturday certainly allows us to learn of how to better prepare ourselves mentally, physically and just know that each opportunity needs to be cherished and treated as such. And it's so important to take each game with a great amount of pride and a great amount of focus to win the game. And I think that's where we learned a lot, and I think that's where we're going to continue to learn.”
With the loss, Notre Dame’s chances of making the College Football Playoff took a significant hit. There’s an outside shot the Irish can still make it, but they would need every domino to fall and then some. However, the goals haven’t changed, and Tranquill is focused on making sure the Irish end the season in a positive fashion.
“It comes down to a choice, and USC came in here and got throttled by us, similar to what happened when we went down to Miami,” Tranquill said when comparing USC’s ability to rebound. “They made a choice that they weren't going to allow that to define their season. They refocused and haven't lost a game since.
"You have to respect a team for doing that, especially a team like USC who had National Championship hopes coming into the season. To be able to refocus like that and have won out so far is a testament to I think the character of guys they have in their group. And I'd like to think we have the same character guys on our team and we'll do the same as they did.”
McGlinchey knows his shot at winning a National Title is slim, but it isn’t stopping him from doing his part to ensure a title comes back to South Bend in the future.
“I don't know how much it's shifted,” McGlinchey said of the goals of the team. “I think that whether it's this year or not, I think that the goal is still to win a National Championship. If I can do my part and if it's not this year and going to the next year and years to come, if I can kind of try and help out that process and that cause, then I'll feel pretty good about that as well.
“But you know, there's a lot of pride and tradition here to maintain and be dominant. And that's what we're going to try and do these next two weeks, and if we're lucky enough to play in a New Year's Six bowl game or wherever we wind up playing, then we'll do that as well. But the goal is still the same. Whether it's now, whether it's in the future, it doesn't really matter. The goal is to bring Notre Dame excellence, and that's what we're going to continue to try to do.”