by Kyle Golik
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman took ownership of Monday’s night 34-23 loss to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.
“You’re always making mistakes, but those types of detrimental mistakes when you play a really, really good football team cost you points,” Freeman said. “I think that’s probably the biggest thing that has stuck out to me even in between series, the communication. ‘Hey, we’re good, we got it.’ Well, we can’t make mistakes. It falls on my shoulders. And as the head coach, we have to prepare and be better prepared for this moment. These guys gave everything they got.”
Notre Dame showed resilience after being down 31-7 and rallied back to make it a one possession game in the fourth quarter. But after a missed Mitch Jeter kick, and Ohio State quarterback Will Howard locating wide receiver Jeremiah Smith on a third-and-11 for a 56-yard completion to seal it for Ohio State, all Irish comeback prayers weren’t answered.
While Notre Dame fell short against Ohio State, sixth-year senior linebacker Jack Kiser kept it all in perspective after completing his 70th game for Notre Dame.
“I think when you look at the six years I’ve been here, what I remember is the people. From when I was a small underclassman just trying to learn the ways, looking at a Drew White, Bo Bauer, to being a guy running with my boys in JD and Marist, and then this year coming back and feeling like I had a chip on my shoulder and getting to meet amazing guys like Riley coming in and just kind of going on the journey we went on,” Kiser said. “To have Coach Freeman — yeah, it’s about the people. It’s the people that’s made this place different. It just shows where this program is heading. The people in this building are the best, absolute best.”
There is no doubting what Marcus Freeman has accomplished in his three seasons as Notre Dame’s head coach, becoming the winningest coach through that span in program history.
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This season Freeman broke the hex of Notre Dame’s 10-game New Year’s Six bowl game losing streak. Prior to this season, Notre Dame last won a New Year’s Six bowl against Texas A&M in the 1994 Cotton Bowl. This season, Freeman delivered Sugar and Orange Bowl triumphs over Georgia and Penn State, becoming just the fourth Notre Dame coach to win multiple New Year’s Six bowl games at Notre Dame (Ara Parseghian, Dan Devine, Lou Holtz).
With all the good, the invariable question is can Freeman avoid the same path his predecessor Brian Kelly followed at Notre Dame?
For starters, while Notre Dame folded against Alabama in the 2012-2013 BCS National Championship, Notre Dame, despite looking like the same fate was going to be dealt to them, found the courage to fight back in the second half. Many high profile games in the Kelly era that ended in runaway losses, like the 2016 Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State, the 2017 Miami game, or the 2018 College Football Playoff Semifinal against Clemson seemed to bruise Kelly’s program.
I don’t have the foresight or a fortune-telling abilities to forecast any future Freeman success or debacles, but there is a different feel around Notre Dame. Freeman takes more ownership of the situation.
Revisit the 2012-13 BCS National Championship halftime interview with Brian Kelly.
“Uhh…Maybe Alabama doesn’t come back in the second half.”
In the heat of the moment, Freeman wasn’t losing his cool. He kept emphasizing they were a stop, a turnover, a drive away from making it a game. Sure enough, Notre Dame willed its way back.
When they couldn’t complete the comeback, Freeman owned Notre Dame’s shortcomings but also forecasted a bright future.
“We didn’t get it done, and it hurts. My job is to figure out why, and I will, but I told these guys, they’ve left this program better — I don’t care if you were here for one year or you’ve been here for six years; our program is in a better place because of the examples these two have set (referring to quarterback Riley Leonard and linebacker Jack Kiser), and many other leaders in that locker room. The outlook of Notre Dame football is extremely high. As long as the people in that locker room that come back understand what it takes, the work these guys have put in, there’s a lot of success in our future.”
Lou Holtz once said, “Attitude determines how well you do it. Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do.” Notre Dame demonstrated that they will be a tough out moving forward. They have the right attitude under Freeman, and there is no questioning Freeman’s ability to motivate. I feel confident in saying Notre Dame’s best days lie ahead, and the big-game woes and temper tantrums Kelly is often associated with won’t be a fixture in South Bend under Freeman.
