What Tennessee State hopes to build with HBCU’s first hockey program
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Ryan S. Clark, NHL reporter
Hockey. Hockey? Not baseball? Not soccer? Hockey?!?
For a second, Howard Gentry allowed himself to be surprised upon learning that Tennessee State University would be the first Historically Black College and University to have a hockey program.
Then Gentry remembered: Being the first HBCU to do something unexpected is what allowed TSU to even be in this position at all.
“Now to see hockey come here? To some, it might be that thought of ‘Black people don’t play hockey.’ But the truth is they do. That’s where it started,” said Gentry, a former TSU athletic director. “I know the history. And even if people thought Black people didn’t play hockey, they do now. … I see us having the chance to be as successful as the other dreams and visions that were made true by those administrators from the past.”
In the two months since TSU’s announcement, the school has made what it feels is gradual progress in the next steps of its plan.
Nick Guerriero, the assistant athletic director for communications and creative content at TSU, said the school recently finished interviewing for their director of club hockey role. Initially, TSU was going to hire one person, but decided to make it a two-person job. One will be charged with handling the majority of the work on the fundraising side, while the other will manage the recruitment side of building the program. Guerriero said the goal is to have the hires in place by mid-October.
Guerriero outlined how there are several moving parts to the school’s tentative plan. Their goal is to start with a club program that will begin play in the 2024-25 season. In 2025-26, TSU will have a “hybrid season” in which it will seek to play a mix of club teams and Division I teams with the belief that TSU will be a full-fledged D-I program by the 2026-27 campaign.
Guerriero said there are still a few items that need to be sorted out. Such as who TSU will play against. He’s continuing to have discussions with club hockey entities such as the American Collegiate Hockey Association (the ACHA) along with the AAU, which recently took over what was previously known as the College Hockey Federation (CHF).
Playing against ACHA schools would give TSU a chance to follow the path taken by schools such as Arizona State before moving up to Division I. Playing against CHF schools would allow TSU the opportunity to play against club teams from schools their fans would be more familiar with such as Auburn, Georgia and Vanderbilt, which is in Nashville.
Guerriero said TSU has not petitioned the NCAA about going D-I, with the intention that TSU will do so at some point.
He said TSU plans to eventually add a women’s program as well, but creating a men’s hockey program means the school must first add another women’s team in addition to remain Title IX compliant. Currently, TSU is Title IX compliant with Guerriero explaining that even when TSU adds a women’s hockey program, it would still need to have another non-hockey women’s sport in order to remain compliant.
Guerriero said he is aware those discussions have taken place in a few closed-door meetings.
“We don’t want to rush into things, especially being the first HBCU,” Guerriero said. “You don’t want to rush into something and then if it fails, it is that, ‘I told you so.’ It has to be done right when it is going to be the first. I think that’s the other thing too. Everyone has this microscope on HBCUs. It is so tightly magnified that if they do something wrong, it gets blown up 25 times more than if a mid-major school did the same thing.”
MIKE SNEE IS the executive director of College Hockey Inc., a nonprofit that was created to grow the collegiate game. If there’s a college or university that is looking to start a hockey program, they’ve surely run across Snee.
College Hockey offers interested schools the chance to do a feasibility study. The study itself, which is paid for by the NHL and NHL Players’ Association, assesses if colleges and universities are in a position to add a men’s or women’s program or both.
Snee said that TSU’s decision to do a feasibility study was “totally unique” because there were no HBCUs that offered a hockey program.
“We previously contacted different HBCUs and knew they had access to a building for club hockey and had a contact there. We became aware [of TSU] because of the Predators when it came to Tennessee State,” Snee said. “The Predators became aware that we had this idea of being deliberate about pursuing HBCUs and choosing of the schools when it came to their markets and facilities. The Predators said they worked closely with a local HBCU, Tennessee State, which is not NCAA ready but it is club hockey ready.”
Snee said TSU athletic director Dr. Mikki Allen was beyond receptive. He said Allen’s work in getting former Tennessee Titans running back Eddie George as TSU’s head football coach, plus the team being the first HBCU to play Notre Dame, proved the school had a vision.
Snee said in discussions with other HBCUs, the schools were not dismissive but they presented reasons why it might not work.
The feasibility study mainly focuses on the financial impact of adding hockey. Questions such as can schools account for adding internal scholarships? Or how much would it cost their athletic department to hire a full coaching and support staff? The study also examines a school’s realistic chances to join a conference, a factor that has become an even greater priority within the current collegiate landscape.
According to Snee, the only question Allen asked about adding hockey at TSU was: “Why not?”
“In a literal sense, [TSU] is a Division I athletics program,” Snee said. “Therefore, they can add any sport that they want that Division I sponsors. … Arizona State is a good comparable for what we are talking about. They decided to add hockey. They are a D-I program. Tennessee State can play D-I hockey when they decide they’re ready.”
Snee has previously said any school that wants to add hockey must first figure out how to clear the facilities hurdle. Even then, it’s something of a nuanced process. Snee said the objective is to build an arena that holds between 3,000 and 4,000 people while also having the necessary locker room space for both the home and away teams.
There are behind-the-scenes items that can help in recruiting, such as a player lounge, a team space and a weight training area. There’s also what Snee described as the “front of house” amenities, such as in-game production, scoreboards and having an overall look that could work toward the path of joining a conference.
Snee said the price tag to build that type of facility is around $75 million.
Not every college hockey program, however, plays at a venue of that size. There are currently more than a combined 30 active men’s and women’s programs playing at the D-I level that play their home games in buildings that hold less than 3,000 fans. Programs such as Lindenwood University and Long Island University play games at community rinks that are owned and operated by NHL teams.
What does all this mean for TSU?
College hockey teams typically have a Friday/Saturday schedule with the rare Thursday or Sunday game. Snee said Bridgestone Arena, home of the Predators, would not work because of the NHL schedule, live entertainment acts, plus the venue being too large as it seats more than 17,000 for hockey.
“Maybe they play one game a year there and bring in a big opponent where they make a big deal out of it,” Snee said. “But all the sheets of ice in Nashville are in a community where there are 800 seats on one side or it is where the Preds play, which is [just under] 18,000 seats.”
Guerriero said TSU administrators have talked about building an arena as part of the school’s 10-year plan. It’s possible it could be a multipurpose complex that would be the home for TSU’s football program, men’s and women’s basketball programs and hockey programs.
In the interim, the plan would be for TSU to play at least its first season in different rinks around the Nashville market. Guerriero said there are city-owned rinks such as Centennial Iceplex and the three Ford Ice Centers in the metro area that are owned by the Predators. He also mentioned the newly built F&M Bank Arena in Clarksville, which is a nearly hourlong drive from TSU’s campus.
Snee estimated some of the local Nashville rinks may hold around 800 fans while the F&M Bank Arena website says it holds 5,000 for hockey.
“We may be utilizing that as well on top of the potential of Bridgestone,” Guerriero said. “I hate to say we are going to be the traveling circus to build a fanbase. But we feel it could be important toward getting more fans rather than being at one facility.”
THE IDEA OF TSU adding hockey had been talked about before. It was known they had done a feasibility study in 2021.
Almost two years had passed when news of an announcement broke the night before the NHL draft in Nashville. Guerriero said that only four people at TSU knew about the announcement with the rest of the athletic department finding out just before the news broke on social media.
Keeping a secret was not the issue for Guerriero. His concerns stemmed from the fear of what could come from TSU’s announcement. He was worried that the news might not be welcomed by current students and/or alumni who might have wanted the school to add a different sport. He thought about those outside of TSU who might have been inclined to voice that hockey didn’t belong at a HBCU.
“I kept sitting there before bed thinking this is going to get bad and then when the news broke about our announcement, it was the greatest thing in the world,” Guerriero said. “You think this could be bad because you’re going to get blown up on social media with people saying how dumb they think this is. Then you see the reaction. It was great and it was awesome. … That day, it was ‘The Land of Golden Sunshine’ as we call it here at Tennessee State.”
He said the positive response to the announcement has created even more optimism around the program. Guerriero did not have specifics about how much TSU has generated in its first round of fundraising, but he said the school’s goal is to raise between $10 million and $20 million.
With the school having its homecoming this weekend, Guerriero said there have been discussions about the potential of TSU having a home hockey game as part of next year’s homecoming plans. Guerriero also shared how a handful of prospective parents and players traveled to TSU for this year’s homecoming so they could see the campus while also experiencing everything that comes with homecoming weekend.
Gentry, who was TSU’s AD for three years, said fundraising requires numerous investors and that it must be sustained over several decades to have long-term success. This led Gentry to joke that he would also not be mad if a certain TSU alum were to get involved.
The TSU alum in question? Oprah Winfrey.
“We have to have many big investments for this to be successful and sustainable,” Gentry said. “That being said — Oprah, if you are listening, we could still use the help!”
Overseeing TSU’s fundraising efforts is one of the responsibilities the school’s director of club hockey will handle. The person hired will also be in charge of items such as community partnerships, managing day-to-day operations and student-athlete recruitment.
Guerriero said it is possible that whomever is hired to be the director of club hockey operations could also be the first coach in TSU’s history. He somewhat joked about how he’s trying to hire what would be the contemporary version of Lou Lamoriello, now the general manager of the New York Islanders, when he served in numerous roles at Providence College.
“I’ve already got seven to eight people on volunteer contracts who are helping us,” Guerriero said. “That’s the great part. People just want to be involved. Nobody has come to me and said, ‘I need this’ to get involved. The hockey community and professional hockey community have been tremendous with giving their time and their brains to talk through some of these things.”
Speaking about items such as potential venues, the director of club hockey operations opening and fundraising makes it clear TSU’s venture into hockey is real. It also prompts those talking about TSU to get into why they feel this must work.
Hockey at all levels has struggled to make itself more inviting when compared to other sports. While visible but not openly discussed, the conversation around race and racism in hockey started becoming more common over the past few years.
Not that TSU adding a college hockey program is expected to solve all of the sport’s challenges when it comes to race and racism. But the visibility of a HBCU that was initially named the Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State Normal School for Negroes in a city that is more than 27% Black having a hockey program represents something that’s never been seen before.
“Everybody’s got these great stories and histories and nobody knows it,” Gentry said. “But when this hockey program starts making its mark, people are going to start paying attention. It’s a chance to understand that HBCUs are able to and have always been to provide the same quality programming in athletics and academics as any other school can provide.”
Gentry has an affinity for TSU’s history because it is so personal. His father, Howard C. Gentry Sr., was once the athletic director, coach and a professor at TSU whose name is on the building where the men’s and women’s basketball teams play.
Understanding why there is a strong sense of optimism about hockey succeeding at TSU requires looking back at some of that history. Gentry shares stories of how Walter S. Davis, who was the second president in TSU history, told Gentry’s father upon hiring him that he wanted to see TSU win not just Black national championships in football, but national championships against predominantly white institutions — PWIs — when the United States was segregated.
That vision gave the world the Tigerbelles — the all-Black female track team that represented the United States at the 1956 Olympics. They won bronze that year, only to return in 1960 and win several gold medals. Three of them belonged to Wilma Rudolph at a time when women, let alone Black women, were not encouraged to participate in sports.
It set the stage for TSU to be the first HBCU to play in a PWI conference, the Ohio Valley Conference. The school would eventually win conference titles in numerous sports while having a football program that produced Ed “Too Tall” Jones, who became the first player from a HBCU program to be the No. 1 pick of an NFL draft.
Snee shares that optimism while also remaining cautious. He’s caught in the place between not wanting TSU to feel pressure while also understanding that what they do could lead to more HBCUs starting programs, whether they be club or D-I.
“If we check back and there are four HBCUs and they are offering club hockey, that’s a cool thing,” Snee said. “But within that, what can turn a solid base knock up the middle into a grand slam? What if we check back in 10 years and 13 HBCUs are offering hockey. Seven of them are offering various club programs, four are offering D-I and there’s two more that are considering transitioning. That is better than a single.”
The first 12-team College Football Playoff is down to the final two contenders: Notre Dame and Ohio State.
The seventh-seeded Fighting Irish and eighth-seeded Buckeyes will meet Jan. 20 at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the CFP National Championship Presented by AT&T. Whichever team wins will end a championship drought. Notre Dame aims for its first title since 1988. Ohio State’s lull isn’t nearly as long, as the Buckeyes won the first CFP championship a decade ago, but given how consistently elite they are, it seems like a while.
Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman and Ohio State’s Ryan Day are also aiming for their first championships as head coaches, and Freeman’s past will be in the spotlight. Freeman and the Irish lost to the Buckeyes and Day in each of the past two seasons. But after a masterful coaching job this season, Freeman now will face his alma mater — he was an All-Big Ten linebacker for Ohio State under coach Jim Tressel — with everything on the line. Day, meanwhile, can secure the loftiest goal for a team that fell short of earlier ones, but never stopped swinging.
Here’s your first look at the championship matchup and what to expect in the ATL. — Adam Rittenberg
When: Jan. 20 at 7:30 p.m. ET. TV: ESPN
What we learned in the semifinal: Notre Dame’s resilience and situational awareness/execution are undeniably its signature traits and could propel the team to a title. The Irish have overcome injuries all season and did so again against Penn State. They also erased two deficits and continued to hold the edge in the “middle eight” — the final four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half — while dominating third down on both sides of the ball. Notre Dame can rely on front men such as quarterback Riley Leonard, running back Jeremiyah Love and linebacker Jack Kiser, but also on backup QB Steve Angeli, wide receiver Jaden Greathouse and kicker Mitch Jeter. These Irish fight, and they’re very hard to knock out.
X factor: Greathouse entered Thursday with moderate numbers — 29 receptions, 359 yards, one touchdown — and had only three total catches for 14 yards in the first two CFP games. But he recorded career highs in both receptions (7) and receiving yards (105) and tied the score on a 54-yard touchdown with 4:38 to play. A Notre Dame offense looking for more from its wide receivers, especially downfield, could lean more on Greathouse, who exceeded his receptions total from the previous five games but might be finding his groove at the perfect time. He also came up huge in the clutch, recording all but six of his receiving yards in the second half.
How Notre Dame wins: The Irish won’t have the talent edge in Atlanta, partly because they’ve lost several stars to season-ending injuries, but they have the right traits to hang with any opponent. Notre Dame needs contributions in all three phases and must continue to sprinkle in downfield passes, an element offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock has pushed. And they finally did start seeing results against Penn State. The Irish likely can’t afford to lose the turnover margin, although they can help themselves by replicating their third-down brilliance — 11 of 17 conversions on offense, 3 of 11 conversions allowed on defense — from the Penn State win. — Rittenberg
What we learned in the semifinal: The Buckeyes have a defense with championship mettle, headlined by senior defensive end Jack Sawyer, who delivered one of the biggest defensive plays in Ohio State history. On fourth-and-goal with just over two minutes remaining, Sawyer sacked Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers, forcing a fumble that he scooped up and raced 83 yards for a game-clinching touchdown, propelling Ohio State to the national title game. The Buckeyes weren’t perfect in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, and they struggled offensively for much of the night against a talented Texas defense. But Ohio State showed late why its defense is arguably the best in college football, too.
X factor: The play two snaps before the Sawyer scoop-and-score set the table. On second-and-goal from the Ohio State 1-yard line, unheralded senior safety Lathan Ransom dashed past incoming blockers and dropped Texas running back Quintrevion Wisner for a 7-yard loss. After an incomplete pass, the Longhorns were forced into desperation mode on fourth-and-goal down a touchdown with just over two minutes remaining. All-American safety Caleb Downs, who had an interception on Texas’ ensuing drive, rightfully gets all the headlines for the Ohio State secondary. But the Buckeyes have other veteran standouts such as Ransom throughout their defense.
How Ohio State wins: Texas took away Ohio State’s top offensive playmaker, true freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, who had only one reception for 3 yards on three targets. As the first two playoff games underscored, the Buckeyes offense is at its best when Smith gets the ball early and often. Notre Dame is sure to emulate the Texas blueprint, positioning the defensive backs to challenge Smith. Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly has to counter with a plan that finds ways to get the ball into Smith’s hands, no matter what the Fighting Irish do. — Jake Trotter
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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Of all the players gathered outside Notre Dame‘s locker room late Thursday night recapping a historic win, offensive lineman Charles Jagusah might have been the unlikeliest to be standing there.
Jagusah wasn’t supposed to be in uniform at Hard Rock Stadium, recounting his performance in Notre Dame’s 27-24 victory against Penn State in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl. After he tore a pectoral muscle early in training camp, his season had been declared over before it could truly begin. The injury to Jagusah, projected as the team’s starting left tackle, was Notre Dame’s first major health setback, but would be nowhere near its last.
The only way Jagusah would have a chance to contribute this season would be for Notre Dame to reach the CFP and make a deep run. For that to happen, the Irish would need to overcome a staggering amount of injuries, some season-ending, to players who, unlike Jagusah, would have no chance of returning. The injury wave didn’t spare the offense or defense, and it hit some of the team’s biggest stars as well as important role players.
“Losing-sleep injuries,” defensive coordinator Al Golden called them. “You’re talking about massive players.”
But none has been massive enough to divert Notre Dame from its playoff push, which will continue Monday night in Atlanta against Ohio State in the CFP National Championship Presented by AT&T.
Most teams that make a run as deep as Notre Dame’s point to a decent-sized dose of good fortune. But when it came to injuries, the Irish had very little luck on their side. So how did they get all the way to the national championship game?
AFTER A TUESDAY practice in November, ahead of Notre Dame’s game with Army at Yankee Stadium, Golden knew he was seeing a first in his 30-year coaching career.
“I have not been a part of anything where we lost the caliber of guys that we’ve lost,” he told ESPN. “It just speaks to the leadership of Coach [Marcus] Freeman, the leadership of our captains and the unity of the group. Obviously it’s been next man up for quite some time.”
Every player and coach in college football cites a “next man up” mentality, recognizing its necessity and inevitability in a violent sport, but also making the reference with their fingers crossed. Those same coaches and players know that most injury-plagued teams are eventually sunk, unable to plug all the holes.
Jagusah was the first significant setback for Notre Dame, but others followed. The team responded to its Week 2 home loss to Northern Illinois by thrashing Purdue 66-7 in West Lafayette, but the victory came at a cost. Starting center Ashton Craig tore his left ACL, while Jordan Botelho, a starter at the vyper defensive end spot, suffered a right knee injury. They went out on consecutive series in the second quarter.
Boubacar Traore stepped up in Botelho’s absence and led Notre Dame in sacks (three) and tackles for loss (five) by the end of September. But the redshirt freshman injured his left knee in a Week 5 win over Louisville and was lost for the season.
The biggest injury loss came two weeks later, as cornerback Benjamin Morrison, a freshman All-America selection in 2022 who earned second-team AP All-America honors in 2023 and was a semifinalist for the Thorpe Award, sustained a hip injury against Stanford. He also needed surgery and would be out for the season.
“You’re talking about some of the best at their positions,” Golden said. “And then some of the younger guys, you don’t know how good they’re going to be, but they’re going to be good, Boubacar and obviously Jordan Botelho.”
As the injuries on defense piled up, linebacker Jack Kiser felt a mix of sympathy and resolve. Some units would melt down, or at least regress, after losing a playmaker like Morrison, but not Notre Dame.
“I don’t think that’s ever even been an option for this program,” Kiser said. “It’s always been, ‘Hey, we’re devastated if someone got an injury, but someone has an opportunity. Can you elevate this team and make this team better and take advantage of that opportunity?'”
The answer, repeatedly and resoundingly, has been yes. True freshman cornerback Leonard Moore, a three-star recruit, entered the lineup for Morrison and now leads the team in pass breakups, while adding two forced fumbles and two interceptions.
Junior Tuihalamaka and Donovan Hinish, who each had only 10 tackles in 2023, stepped into bigger roles on the line. They have combined for 68 tackles, 7.5 sacks and 10 tackles for loss.
“There really wasn’t a point where someone went down, where I was like, ‘Ah, we’re done,'” standout safety Xavier Watts said. “I’ve got the confidence in all of my teammates.”
A Notre Dame defense hammered by injuries has been the biggest reason behind the team’s national title push. The Irish lead the nation in takeaways with 32 and rank second nationally in points allowed at 14.3 per game, trailing only Ohio State.
“Just press forward,” Golden said of the team’s philosophy. “Don’t bitch, don’t make excuses, and next guy, carry the flag.”
SHORTLY BEFORE SURGERY to repair his pectoral muscle, Jagusah met with Freeman, who told the second-year player that he could be available for a potential CFP run if Notre Dame made the field for the first time in four seasons.
“At first it kind of didn’t feel realistic, but as I got closer and closer, I just kept pushing, and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I can do this,'” Jagusah said. “It’s a credit to everybody for keeping me engaged.”
As the team played into mid-December, then late December, then early January, Jagusah’s chances to not just see the field but log meaningful snaps increased. There he was at the Orange Bowl, playing guard instead of tackle, filling in for injured starter Rocco Spindler. Like others had done in replacing those lost to injury, Jagusah stepped up, pulling to clear out defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton on quarterback Riley Leonard‘s touchdown run, and decleating Penn State safety Jaylen Reed on another pull.
“It shows you how much credit my teammates deserve,” Jagusah said. “In the grand scheme of things, I didn’t really do much today. They got us here. They did all the heavy lifting, everybody, all year long, grinding, and I get to reap the rewards.”
Jagusah’s preseason injury began what has been a season-long shuffle for Notre Dame’s offensive line. Craig started the first three games before his injury, which prompted Pat Coogan, who started throughout the 2023 season at left guard but entered this fall as a backup, to take over at center. At guard, Billy Schrauth has started games at both spots, with Spindler and Sam Pendleton also earning starts.
Notre Dame had stability at tackle with Aamil Wagner on the right side and Anthonie Knapp, a true freshman who emerged following Jagusah’s injury, on the left. Jagusah made his season debut on special teams against Georgia in the CFP quarterfinal at the Sugar Bowl, then replaced Spindler against Penn State.
“Coach Freeman always says the future is uncertain, so you can’t worry about the future,” Jagusah said. “Sure, we’ve had weeks where a lot of guys are banged up and you’re thinking, ‘Oh, crap, how are we going to make this work?’ But it’s about preparing every single day. Whatever five guys we put out there, they’re all going to do great.”
Jagusah’s story underscores how Notre Dame’s roster depth and resilience have been tested, even during the CFP. Notre Dame’s first highlight came from Jeremiyah Love, who raced 98 yards to the end zone in a first-round game against Indiana. Love had injured his right knee in the regular-season finale at USC and had been battling an upper-respiratory bug in the days leading up to the Indiana contest. But he still delivered the longest run in CFP history.
The Irish beat Indiana 27-17, a score closer than the game actually was, but also lost defensive tackle Rylie Mills, their leader in sacks (7.5) and tackles for loss (8.5), to a season-ending knee injury. Mills had propped up a line that had lost Botelho and Traore, as well as starting tackle Howard Cross III, a second-team AP All-America selection in 2023, for most of November.
In the CFP semifinals, Notre Dame trailed Penn State 10-0 when Leonard’s head hit the turf, sending him to the injury tent to be evaluated for a potential concussion. Backup quarterback Steve Angeli, who hadn’t played outside of mop-up time all season, came in and hit his first five pass attempts, helping set up a field goal before halftime.
Love’s status for the semifinal had been in doubt after he aggravated his knee injury against Georgia and left the game in the third quarter. Despite wearing a brace, Love gave Notre Dame its first lead with one of the more iconic runs in recent school history, wrestling free of four Penn State defenders and reaching the ball across the goal line. He later showcased his signature hurdle in elevating over Penn State’s Kobe King.
0:40
Jeremiyah Love refuses to go down on a Notre Dame TD
Jeremiyah Love breaks multiple tackles to give Notre Dame a 17-10 lead over Penn State.
Notre Dame fittingly won the game on a field goal by Mitch Jeter, who played through a hip injury for much of the season, missed two attempts in the Northern Illinois loss and hit just 1 of 5 attempts in the final five regular-season games.
“I don’t think that me or this team would be where we are without all those trials and tribulations, injuries and sicknesses and all that type of stuff,” Love said. “Everybody on this team is relentless. [Me] playing through injury, playing when I was sick, anybody on this team will do that same thing because we love each other.”
EVERY TEAM EMPHASIZES relentlessness and resilience, and players stepping up for each other. But what separates the Irish, who have actually delivered on those promises, from teams that can’t follow through?
“It’s because we’ve been at the very bottom of the bowl,” Kiser said. “We’ve been as deep as you can be, and felt the biggest pain that a team could feel, and it brought us closer. We understand how to face adversity now because of it.”
Notre Dame’s loss to Northern Illinois was a setback that, during the four-team playoff era, almost certainly would have eliminated the Irish from consideration. The result also brought back memories of Freeman’s first season, which included home losses to Marshall and Stanford.
But rather than letting the NIU loss carry over, or fretting about what it could mean down the line, Notre Dame strung together wins, even while losing key players.
“You better live your life six inches in front of your face,” offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock said. “Coach Freeman brings it up a lot: Win the interval. Just win this interval — this, right here. We’ve been able to maintain that mentality, regardless of the amount of chaos that’s going around.”
In the afterglow of the Penn State victory, Golden said Notre Dame “needed every little bit of that mettle to win that game.” The Irish will need more, though, to beat an Ohio State team with a talent edge and few major injuries outside of its offensive line.
Knapp sustained a high ankle sprain against Penn State that will keep him out for the championship game. Spindler’s outlook is more promising but not fully known, Freeman said Sunday. Jagusah likely will have a significant role against Ohio State, perhaps at the position he was pegged to play back in the summer.
The Irish are used to playing without a full deck. Whoever takes the field at Mercedes-Benz Stadium will, in their eyes, be enough to win a championship.
“This is a tough football team,” Denbrock said after the Penn State win, standing several feet from Jagusah. “They just keep playing. They don’t flinch, they don’t care what the circumstances are. God bless ’em, it’s fun to be a part of.”
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