What a change of emotions from one weekend to the next. Notre Dame was riding hide following the 23-13 victory over Texas A&M last weekend, and now panic has ensued following their unforgivable 16-14 home loss to Northern Illinois yesterday. On the offensive side of the football, it was a disaster.

There is one player who did impress, the lone bright spot. Otherwise, it was a whole lot of bad. Some reevaluations will need to take place after this game. Several standouts left a lot to be desired in this brutal loss.

STUDS

Forget about studs. There was only one player who qualified this week. Here is the lone bright spot for the offense.

RB Jeremiyah Love

That’s it. This was an absolutely abysmal performance from the Notre Dame offense. The only thing some Irish fans could get excited for is Love, and the upside he brings to the table. His hurdle was the most exciting moment of the day by a long shot. With the woes in the passing game so far, getting the sophomore sensation the football more frequently is in the programs best interest.

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DUDS

This list could be very, very long. It was a disastrous offensive performance. Here are the selections for duds of the week.

QB Riley Leonard

The passing game left a lot to be desired, and that of course begins with Leonard. His game against Texas A&M was far from perfect but you still saw tremendous flashes to build on. That progress was completely destroyed against Northern Illinois. The former Duke signal caller had bouts of inaccuracy that were inexcusable. There’s no questioning that Leonard is far from the only problem offensively, but he was a huge issue on Saturday. Notre Dame needs to find answers quickly.

Every pass game “weapon”

Most Notre Dame fans just want to blame Leonard, and they’re entitled to do so. Acting like he’s the only issue, however, is really near sighted and misguided. We can always play the game of “hey, that guy was open on that one play,” but the pass catchers didn’t come to play against Northern Illinois. There was barely any separation and several drops that stalled drives. For a unit that was supposed to be dramatically improved, they were also bad on Saturday.

A offseason promise

Notre Dame fans were lied to. They were promised an explosive offense, a championship level unit that was ready to make a big step. You hired offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock, brought in Leonard, transfer portal wide receivers Beaux Collins and Kris Mitchell, as long as a stellar offensive recruiting class, and for what? The offensive philosophy still remains, hindering the unit. You were all lied to.