After unranked Marshall went into South Bend and upset No. 8 Notre Dame on Saturday 26–21 as a three touchdown underdog, Thundering Herd coach Charles Huff heaped praise on his team for their effort in the road victory.
“I’m really proud of how my players competed,” Huff told NBC after the game.
“Notre Dame’s a hell of a football team, hats off to them. But our guys all week, we talked about control what we can control. We have good players, too. We knew if we didn’t beat ourselves that we’d have a chance. The kids did a heck of a job. Our staff did a heck of a job. I couldn’t be more proud,” Huff added.
When asked about the significance of Marshall’s upset against Notre Dame in the broader sense across college football, Huff was clear that the team doesn’t listen to the outside noise.
“The history and tradition of Marshall, you know, we show up, we play hard and these games are just not as big to us [as they are] to other people, because our kids stayed locked in to the process. They didn’t get too caught up in the rankings and all that, and the coaches and staff did a great job of keeping them focused.”
The Marshall victory over Notre Dame handed Fighting Irish coach Marcus Freeman his third consecutive loss to begin his coaching career in South Bend. Freeman is the first head coach in school history to lose three consecutive games to begin his coaching career.
Marshall heads on the road to Bowling Green next Saturday, while Notre Dame must regroup quickly and prepare for California to come to town for another home game in Week 3.
