The national championship game between the Indiana Hoosiers and the Miami Hurricanes is about to begin.
It’s been a wild ride for Notre Dame fans over the past month and a half, but it’s been just as crazy for the fans — and it must have been even crazier for head coach Marcus Freeman. Throughout, Freeman has said little publicly about the playoff snub. He was asked about it during a recent press conference, and his response says a lot about where he and Notre Dame are now — as opposed to (maybe) a month ago.
“I think a lot of real emotion and reaction came through in the doc that followed, ‘The Irish Are Coming.’ You can see the disappointment and confusion, but when we look back at that moment over a month later, it’s obviously disappointing, but you have to move on, and that’s what we do as a program. That’s what I do as a leader, and as I reminded everyone in Sunday’s team meeting, it’s our responsibility to make sure we don’t have any doubts.”
“Going forward, we can’t blame it on other people. As much as I may be confused by some of the criteria and committee rankings and all these different things, our job is to make sure we have no doubts as we move forward.”
So we’re moving forward and looking toward 2026, but will Freeman help close out 2025?
but why? A lot of Notre Dame fans asked that question today. Why would Marcus Freeman agree to help a broadcast program that went all-in on Notre Dame’s neck before and after the final rankings?
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Because Marcus Freeman is doing what he’s supposed to do – he’s following his lead. He is moving on.
Regardless of how right we were about the whole playoff thing (to be clear, this was about Alabama and the SEC, not Miami) and opting out of the bowl game, the Irish did take a pretty big public relations hit. Notre Dame has built up quite a bit of goodwill heading into the 2024 postseason, and the vibe around the country is pretty fair.
That’s definitely not the case now.
So, who else do you entrust to take care of the evening? Marcus Freeman – Of course. I think his appearance as a guest analyst on ESPN’s College GameDay will give him the opportunity not to repeat or bring up the actions and consequences of the past month, but to show everyone across the country that Notre Dame is past this and ready to move on. Perhaps there is no better way to move forward than by being a part of the final act of the season by paying tribute to Miami and Indiana. One of those two programs will be the national champion, but both programs deserve it because they started in the first place.
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That’s why he’s here – because this is the last game of the college football season and we need to be ready to go into next season with some dignity and class. We’ll discuss all other noise later.