No. 3 Notre Dame hoping to avoid history with another letdown against Boston College

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman found this week's lesson close to home.

Back in 1993, the Fighting Irish were flying high when they beat No. 1 Florida State 31-24 in yet another game-of-the-century contest. One week later, the nation's new No. 1 team hosted Boston College and the Eagles left with a 41-39 upset, ending Notre Dame's national championship hopes.

Thirty-three years later, the Irish face a similar situation after taking down top-ranked Miami 31-24 ahead of a game against Boston College, and Freeman wants to make sure history doesn't repeat itself Saturday when the Eagles come back to town.

“It’s easy to say that’s not going to be us, but it’s a real thing,” he said. “If you do enough studying on it, there’s an issue with, after big wins, teams having letdowns the next week. I even did a little study of like, what do the coaches say after they lose? It's very common themes, right? It’s 'we weren’t disciplined,’ ‘we didn’t have a great week of prep,’ ‘we’re not mature.’”

It's not just Notre Dame.

Twice this season, the winner over the No. 1 team lost the following week. Oklahoma beat Texas then fell to Kentucky, and Auburn beat Georgia before losing to LSU. Freeman wants to ensure Notre Dame (8-1, No. 5 CFP) doesn't join that club as it pursues another playoff berth and the school's first national championship since 1988.

And Freeman believes it starts with him.

“It’s our job as coaches to make sure we’re prepared, and you don’t blame the players,” he said. “You mandate that we prepare in a way that doesn’t allow us to have a letdown.”

Freeman's message is already sinking in.

Not a single player on Notre Dame's roster was born when Boston College pulled that upset decades ago. Yet, these players are familiar with what happened way back when.

“Obviously, like we’re not the ’93 team, but there are lessons,” tight end Cooper Flanagan said. “There’s a ton of lessons to be learned from history.”

Flanagan doesn't need to go that far back, either.

He was with the Irish two years ago when Notre Dame followed its impressive season-opening victory at Texas A&M with an incomprehensible 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois at home. It's one that still resonates with him — and everyone else who was around for that defeat.

“I think we learned our lesson from (beating) Texas A&M and then losing to (Northern Illinois),” Flanagan said. “I think the biggest thing is just going into next week, going through the same process. Every week, no matter the opponent, it’s just as big a week, and you need to prepare like that. You need to practice like that and just keep getting better.”

Freeman knows Boston College (4-5) can be dangerous despite its record and current reputation and he can point to how difficult it was last year for then-No. 12 Notre Dame to put away one-win Boston College 25-10.

The Fighting Irish led 12-7 at halftime and were up only 18-10 early in the fourth quarter when the Eagles were threatening to score. Notre Dame defensive back Adon Shuler's interception at the Notre Dame 6-yard line snuffed out that scoring chance, and Jeremiyah Love broke free for a the game-sealing 94-yard touchdown run.

By his weekly news conference Monday, Freeman had already diagnosed what to avoid.

“What you’ll see is third downs are an issue, turnover margins are an issue, penalties are an issue,” Freeman said of what fuels a letdown. “There are some common themes that we have to understand, it’s a real thing, and we have to make sure we remember that as we prepare for this next opponent.”

And Notre Dame doesn't intend to let off the gas after jumping from 11th to fifth in this week's playoff rankings.

“Boston College is a really good team," Flanagan said. "Maybe it’s easier to be amped up for (Miami), they’re the No. 1 team in the country. Regardless, it’s a football game, and Boston College is a great team, so we have got to prepare.”

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