Marcus Freeman will have the Irish properly prepared for this moment
Marcus Freeman has had an interesting journey in his short tenure as the head man at Notre Dame. There have been some really terrific and encouraging bright spots, but also many letdowns and head-scratching moments as well. This is all a natural part of the development of a first-time head coach. And when you are learning on the fly in the bright lights of Notre Dame Stadium, everything that happens both good and bad is national news.
While nobody will forget the pain of the Marshall or Stanford games in Freeman’s first year, or the frustration of the Northern Illinois game this season, for the mega matchups. the team has physically and mentally prepared for battle. This is something that has not always been the case for many recent Irish head coaches and their teams.
“I’m gonna say the quiet part out loud… Notre Dame is gonna beat Georgia.” – @FBallGameplan pic.twitter.com/rjsus5FSm6
— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) December 21, 2024
Notre Dame will not play scared football against Georgia
Other than final scores and stats, I don’t have an exact way to measure the timid way recent Irish teams, particularly under Brian Kelly, looked in big game moments. Much too often it felt like these Notre Dame teams were playing big games not to lose, or to not lose by a lot, rather than to go all out for a big win…