Murphy: The Notre Dame spirit needs you

I’ve been a student here long enough to know how this one goes. 

Four years is not a long enough time to truly understand anything. But just trust me on this one, and listen closely if you’re a senior like me and you’ve seen this before.

Let me paint the picture. In the cool nights of August, the excitement for the Notre Dame football season builds. And it continues to build as students move back on campus. There’s a buzz.

Then the Irish suffer an early-season loss. 

The excitement deflates. There’s never less energy on this campus than a day after the football team loses. Then classes get going. Life moves on. Excitement on campus stays low and takes a long time to pick up again, if it does at all. 

Does it sound familiar? It should.

In 2022, Notre Dame was ranked No. 5 and the hype of Marcus Freeman’s first year at the helm brought a week 1 loss at Ohio State. What followed? A week 2 loss to Marshall. Season over. In 2023, two throwaway wins gave way to a week 3 loss to … you guessed it, Ohio State. We should have won and we knew it. What followed? Barely scraping by Duke, and a loss at Louisville the following week. Season over. 

Then, of course, there was last year. We all know what happened last year: NIU.

What I think is sometimes lost about the aftermath of the NIU loss amid the subsequent run to the national championship game is the cynicism that followed that shocking defeat. It took a long time for there to be any excitement around football again. Game day mornings on this campus were as quiet as I’ve ever experienced them. The experience in the stands could be downright dreadful, from the perpetual booing of Riley Leonard to downright indifference. The atmosphere brought no harbinger of a national championship appearance in January. 

Now, here we are again. The situation feels all too familiar. An early season loss brings the feeling that yet again there is no margin for error for this Irish team. 

2025, though, can be different. For starters, this team is better than the team in 2022 and 2023, even if they didn’t show it at times at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday. They also have the benefit of the 12-team playoff, which keeps the door to postseason play alive despite early-season debilitating losses, as we saw last year. These are all positives.

There’s also a key difference from last year, though, that lends an increased sense of urgency to now. 

Last year, despite the cynical energy on campus, the team had tuneups against Purdue and Miami (OH) to learn how to effectively insulate themselves from the noise. They had time to get themselves together and reach their full potential. 

This year, no such relief exists. In two weeks’ time, the Irish will welcome Texas A&M for their home opener. And if they lose, the season is ostensibly over.

So what does that mean for us, the student-fans? We have a better team, but a bitterly familiar situation. How can we do our part?

We have to get behind them tomorrow. 

This year, there is no room for cynicism. Yes, there is plenty to criticize from Sunday’s game. There is plenty to be upset about. That’s natural, and the point is not to ignore that. 

But let go of your frustration now. Do not let it linger, because in two weeks this campus will need to bring a high energy to Notre Dame Stadium. 

Rest your heart, and rest your lungs, my fellow students.

The Notre Dame spirit is going to need you.