Marcus Freeman is the man of the moment as Notre Dame wins first CFP game

Three years ago, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish found themselves questioning everything about their program.

Fourteen days after completing an 11-1 regular season, Brian Kelly, the longtime architect who had rebuilt the program into a consistent winner, shockingly fled to take the same position with the LSU Tigers. Just a few days earlier, their arch-rival USC Trojans had just poached Lincoln Riley in an equally seismic move that would change the college football landscape.

If the Irish could avoid making the College Football Playoff and lose their coach amid a turbulent carousel, what exactly did that say about the most storied program in a sport that clings to the past?

Faced with a crisis of confidence in the fan base and a looming decision that would shape the team for years to come, then-athletic director Jack Swarbrick moved quickly to elevate young defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman.

At the time, it was both understandable and equally questionable. One of the biggest jobs in the country going to a first-time head coach who had been on campus for less than a full calendar year? Was this how Notre Dame was supposed to recover and move on?

In a place that was generally risk-averse, things went well. Freeman’s resume was paper thin, and far more experienced head coaches had been chewed up and spat out of a job as tough as any in sports.

In the wake of Friday night’s 27-17 win over the Indiana Hoosiers in the very first playoff game played on campus, it’s safe to say Swarbrick knew something skeptics didn’t.

Not only was Freeman right for the job, now he’s the man of the moment with a team that looks very capable of winning it all.

“I’m fortunate to be a part of a special, special football program, a special group of people from the top down, from our president, to our chairman of the board, to our athletic director, and down to the people in our football program,” Freeman said. “This is a special place. It’s a special program and I’m lucky just to be a part of it. I know I’m a head coach. You’re going to get some praise. You’re going to get some criticism when things are down. But I’m part of something special with a special group of guys.”

For much of the past four decades, the Irish have dreamed of returning to the pinnacle of college football. Their fans have been pining for it. The teachers have pleaded for it. The haters, well, they reveled in it.

The Bush Push was a classic that reverberated negatively for another dozen years when Charlie Weis was in charge. The Irish were run out of the building by the Alabama Crimson Tide in the 2013 BCS championship game and were less than competitive in their last two playoff appearances. Most notably, they hadn’t won a marquee postseason game since beating the Texas A&M Aggies in the 1993 Cotton Bowl.

Not only was it painful for the team’s large fan base, it was equally uncomfortable to know that you have to go back over a decade previous to the advent of high-definition television to show that the Irish are actually succeeding on the big stage.

Now things may be different in South Bend.

To be fair, the bottom of the team under Freeman is still a little lower than his immediate predecessor, who beat the teams he was supposed to like like clockwork but could never get over the hump against better opponents. In Freeman’s first game in charge, the team blew a big second-half lead in the Fiesta Bowl. He lost, at home, to Group of 5 programs like the Marshall Thundering Herd and earlier in the season in a great game against the Northern Illinois Huskies.

However, these bad losses have also become building blocks for a higher ceiling.

After getting a postseason monkey off their back in the biggest win in South Bend since beating the No. 1 Florida State Seminoles. 1 in 1993, the road has suddenly opened up where the Irish have a realistic chance to win the national championship next month in Atlanta.

Much of that is due to Freeman, who has tweaked the program in an effort to constantly evolve. He has hired a new strength and conditioning staff, changed the team’s weekly routine and lured offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock back to take full control on that side of the ball. Recruiting has been elevated and even the Irish’s NIL play has made them more competitive to keep talented players in the fold and entice others to join them.

“I think all of that, of course, makes you better,” said defensive coordinator Al Golden, a former head coach. “It makes everyone around you better.”

Notre Dame moves into the new year at the Sugar Bowl against the No. 2-seeded Georgia Bulldogs. The schools have met three times, playing in one-score affairs each time, including a memorable game in New Orleans where UGA won the 1980 national title.

However, Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs don’t have Herschel Walker running the ball. It looks like they don’t want starting quarterback Carson Beck either.

For all the talk about Notre Dame’s record against more talented SEC teams, this matchup is immediately winnable. A favorable path beckons. It’s a door that Freeman is able to push the team through.

“(Strength coach Loren Landow) asked me to talk to the team after one of our lifts to kind of tell the school what it was like going to the lacrosse national championship, and I told the guys that we were literally in same world,” said receiver Jordan Faison, who was part of the 2024 NCAA men’s lacrosse title-winning team. “We lost to a team we had to beat and then we had to win from there to get in the playoffs. It’s like the same journey, like this is a real chance and it’s time to lock in and go.”

The Irish held one of the nation’s top scoring teams to just 17 points and 278 yards, much of it in the final minutes of the game. The FBS’ top-ranked run defense was crushed for 193 yards and two scores, with Notre Dame tailback Jeremiah Love’s 98-yard touchdown scamper in the first quarter representing 10% of the season total the Hoosiers had allowed on the ground up to that point. (It was also the longest run by any player this season.)

It was a night that showcased all the legendary pageantry the sport had to offer on the grand scale of a playoff game at one of the most historic sites in college football. Touchdown Jesus was enlightened and watched from above. Tailgaters survived early morning snow showers to make it through a cold and windy night. Leprechauns danced from the nearby Golden Dome across the paths that make up one of the more idyllic Midwestern campuses.

“I didn’t really get to take it all in because you’re focused on doing your job, but I did before the game. I took a minute to take it in, and obviously right now just thinking about what we were able to experience, it’s something special,” Freeman said. “Not many times in life you’re the first to do something, and as I told the group in there, we were the first to win and play a playoff game in Notre Dame Stadium. It is historic. Something we will cherish for the rest of our lives.”

Afterward, as part of the rituals the sport never seems to let go of, Freeman was presented with a game ball and a formal invitation to his next game by two Sugar Bowl officials.

The head coach appeared slightly dazed for a moment before stepping forward to speak to the media, quickly saying he accepted the invitation to some laughs from the assembled Notre Dame staff in the room. Freeman joked that he hadn’t consulted with any of his bosses before doing so, including current athletic director Pete Bevacqua and school president Robert A. Dowd.

After recording a record 12th win against a ranked team in his first three years in charge, it’s probably OK

To win like this in a game of this magnitude, Freeman has plenty of latitude and more than enough confidence to do a lot more at Notre Dame.