Notre Dame football head coach Marcus Freeman doesn’t have many answers about why his team was upset by Northern Illinois. However, the coach who upended Freeman’s season thinks he has one. The Irish weren’t able to use their iPads.

Yes, you heard that right. Thomas Hammock thinks that because NIU’s iPads weren’t working correctly and Notre Dame therefore couldn’t use theirs, that the Huskies had a bit of a leg up on the team that entered Saturday expected to win by four touchdowns.

Hammock told The Athletic he believed no iPads helped his team keep the Notre Dame football team guessing for longer with each schematic adjustment. Of course, the Irish coaches aren’t willing to admit that might have played a part, even if there’s even the tiniest chances it was a factor.

“No, iPad had nothing to do with our execution and the explosive plays,” Golden said, according to Mike Berardino. “There’s so many things that we needed to do better. It comes down to a certain number of plays and the two explosives, one for a touchdown.”

Golden has a point. The longest play any opponent has managed against Golden’s defense since he arrived in South Bend seemed like it was more about a player getting caught up rather than a scheming issue. 

When Antario Brown raced 83 yards, it was more of a fluke play and a misstep by the defender than a coaching problem. NIU got three more field goals the rest of the game. The real problem was the offensive approach, scoring just 14 points.

“We just needed one more stop,” Golden added. “Because it’s not going to be perfect, and I got news for everybody: It’s not going to be perfect the rest of the way. You have to find ways to win. We just needed one more play. Either a takeaway to set up the offense or don’t give up one of those explosives and then you have a chance. The way the game unfolded, we had to hold them to 13 to win. We failed. We didn’t do it. End of story. That’s it. That’s defensive football.”

The bottom line is that the Notre Dame football team shouldn’t have been in a situation where Northern Illinois’ coach could offer up his theories on why he beat the team heavily favored to blow him out.