Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman offered a postmortem of the Northern Illinois loss and looked ahead to the Purdue matchup. Losing in five specific categories led to the defeat, according to Freeman: turnovers, explosive gains (big plays), time of possession, rushing yardage and third-down conversions.
Regarding injured players, Freeman said wide receiver Jordan Faison will return on Saturday, while tackle Tosh Baker will be out, while defensive end Joshua Burnham is questionable. Freeman said the biggest challenges against Purdue will be stopping their running game and running the ball against them.
Freeman pointed to the mental aspects of dealing with the loss and how staying the course is the best approach.