EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said he occasionally shows his players clips of their embarrassing Sept.
7 home loss to Northern Illinois — a motivational tactic that appears to be working. The Irish have now won six straight games, the longest streak under Freeman, including Saturday's 51-14 drubbing of Navy in MetLife Stadium. «We can't lose the pain,» Freeman said following another critical win that helped repair their hopes for a spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff. «That's what I want to make sure our guys understand.
I don't want to lose the pain from that game because at times we are motivated by fear. We don't want this to repeat itself.
We've got to use that. »We're going to be grateful for it if we utilize it and we learn from the lessons it's taught us. When you have success sometimes, you forget about that pain of what NIU left in all of our hearts and our guts.