Photo: Steven Branscombe
Northern Illinois HC Thomas Hammock joins Dan Patrick on The Dan Patrick Show after his Huskies upset Notre Dame on Saturday in South Bend. He talks about his program and the he gave the night before the game where he reminded his players that they were just playing another team and not the entire history of the Notre Dame program. He talks about how proud he is of his squad even though he wasn’t entirely surprised they were able to take down the Irish.
Thomas Hammock: “The night before the game I talked to them. I said, ‘Listen, so Rocket Ismail is not running down that tunnel.’ And by the look on their face(s), I realized they had no idea who I was talking about. So then I had to take it a step further. I said, ‘You know, Joe Montana, Ricky Watters, Jerome Bettis...’ And so, they understood those guys. But I guess what I wanted them to understand was; we were playing the 2024 Notre Dame team, we’re not playing the nostalgia of Notre Dame.”