Notre Dame has already shown it can punch with the best in the country. Now comes the harder part: proving that one huge win doesn’t get followed by a flat Saturday.
Fresh off knocking off the No. 1 team in the country, the Irish are trying to keep the momentum from turning into complacency when they host Boston College this weekend. The message inside the program has been clear after Marcus Freeman addressed the issue earlier this week: the celebration is over, and the focus has to snap right back into place.
“You've got to turn the page,” linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa shared. “You’ve got to turn the page and fight the urge to be average.
Just continue to elevate, continue to prepare, and not let any external factors affect the way that you prepare, the way that you focus, the way that you practice. He [Freeman] talked about that yesterday.
Once we watch the film and evaluate the film, we’ve got to turn the page. And now it’s on to Boston College.”
That kind of reset matters because Notre Dame has already lived through what happens when success isn’t handled cleanly. In 2024, the Irish beat Texas A&M in the opener and then dropped a shocking loss to Northern Illinois at home seven days later.
Some players on the current roster were part of that moment. Others, like defensive tackle Tionne Gray, were not.
Either way, the lesson has stuck.
“You handle it by Sunday after the game,” Gray explained. “We celebrate it that night.
As soon as it hits 12 a.m., and now it’s Monday, on to the next. We have to forget about it and move on and continue to attack.
Now it’s Boston College. Miami’s in the past.
We can’t live off the hype anymore. It’s a good feeling, but now we have to put it to bed and get ready for the next challenge.”
There’s also the obvious backdrop of who’s coming to South Bend. Boston College is the same program that derailed Notre Dame’s championship hopes 33 years ago after beating the No. 1 team in the country from Florida.
For fans, that history adds some extra sting to the idea of a letdown. For running back Nolan James Jr., who was once committed to the Eagles before flipping to the Irish, it doesn’t change much.
“Not really,” the sophomore running back replied when asked if this game meant something extra to him since he was previously committed to Boston College. “I mean, I have a ton of respect and love for a bunch of the guys still on staff over there, but it’s another game. I mean, it’s not any like anything extra personal for me.”
Notre Dame’s bigger picture is straightforward now. After the loss to BYU on October 17 raised serious questions, the Irish are back in control of their playoff destiny and their championship chase for the 2026 season. The path is simple from here: take care of business over the final three games of the regular season, finish what the 2025 team started, and keep the door open to the playoffs and a run at a 12th national championship.
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For Notre Dame viewers, Hicks was part of the soundtrack of fall Saturdays and a steady presence across major sporting moments for years. NBC Sports and others have already paid tribute to his career and the way he helped shape big-event broadcasting, leaving the Irish community reflecting on how quickly a voice they had just welcomed back can be gone. [Read more 🡒]