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SOUTH BEND ― It hurt.
It hurt when he stepped out into a bone cold Atlanta night to board a team bus in late January having just coached the longest season in Notre Dame football history.
Noie: What does history tell us about the current Notre Dame football quarterback competition?
It hurt when he stepped through a sea of snow flurries for the Irish Athletic Center and one of his team’s 14 practices in spring.
Noie: How did one group of Notre Dame football fans plan to spend a spring game Saturday?
It hurt when he found himself with a too-rare quiet moment ― at the office, in the car ― as he spent more time than usual as close as possible to home in April and May.
It will hurt as Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman finds ways to unwind this summer before another college football season beckons come the last week of July. He’ll never outrun all the emotions wrapped into that 34-23 College Football Playoff national championship loss to Ohio State on January 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
That’s cool. Let it hurt.
From a big picture perspective, there was a lot for Freeman to like about the 2024 version of Notre Dame football. Subtract that inexplicable/inexcusable home loss to Northern Illinois ― on second thought, don’t, because that’s what helped make Notre Dame football what Notre Dame football was last fall ― and there were plenty of reasons for Freeman to smile.
The 13 straight wins from coast to coast post-Northern Illinois. The first home playoff game/win over Indiana. The victory over Georgia in a Sugar Bowl played one day late because of the Bourbon Street terror attack. The quick turnaround and travel and victory over Penn State in the Orange Bowl, the same Orange Bowl whose trophy sits prominently displayed in a second-floor Guglielmino Complex hallway.
Plenty to be thankful for from a team perspective, until Freeman gets to the end and gets selfish.
There's pain. Devastation. Disappointment. A nagging/gnawing feeling that Notre Dame, on the cusp of winning its first national championship since 1988, couldn’t meet the moment and did something it hadn’t done since NIU.
It underachieved.
“Those are the things that I think about,” the 39-year-old Freeman said Thursday, May 29 during a 33-minute meeting with a group of local media. “I wish we could go back. Let’s do it one more time. (Sigh) We didn’t play our best when our best was needed and the outcome’s the outcome.
“Selfishly, that’s how I feel when I think about that game.”
You could see it in Freeman’s face as he walked up a stadium tunnel that night in Atlanta. You could hear it in his voice Thursday morning on campus. It hurt then. It hurts now.
He carries it. He owns it. In a way, the hurt helps.
If it wasn’t for that game and the pain, Notre Dame might not be where it is as 2025 slowly appears on the horizon out the front window. Nobody knows what the season will hold for Notre Dame, but Freeman promises that he and his program will be better because of everything that happened in 2024.
All those wins ... and that loss. The bar was raised in 2024 at Notre Dame, which might have the makings this season of clearing it. It won’t be easy. It never is there. Freeman won't be shy to try.
“I’m a better coach because of the experience,” said Freeman, 33-10 at Notre Dame. “I’m a better coach because of understanding what that experience was like, what it took.”
Took. Period. Past tense. What it took in 2024 is different than what it will take in 2025. New season. New leadership. New quarterback. New defensive coordinator. New schedule. New challenges.
The head coach is comfortable in his own skin and in the corner office. The culture is bedrock solid. Don’t think that because 2024 happened how it happened that 2025 will just ... happen.
“They understand that we can be as good as anybody in the country,” Freeman said.
But ...
“It’s going to take something different this year,” he said. “It doesn’t just repeat itself. Just because we did it last year doesn’t mean we know the answers.”
Notre Dame must find some early. Often. A new quarterback (CJ Carr or Kenny Minchey), a new defensive coordinator (Chris Ash), a new core won’t have the luxury of soft openings in 2025. Warmup acts aren’t options at Notre Dame, where season starters are all-out sprints.
Hello, Miami (Fla.) under the lights in South Florida. Hello, Texas A&M under the lights in South Bend.
“We start the season with some dingers now,” Freeman said. “We can’t ease into this thing.”
In a way, Freeman eased off when spring practice ended. Instead of traveling around the country to talk ball, either with NFL teams or alumni clubs, he stayed home. He reached out to several NFL coaches ― Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni was one ― for counsel on how to better his program. Better himself.
How can Notre Dame refine game management? How might the Irish maximize practice? Practice smarter? Own analytics? Best evaluate its roster from a financial standpoint? Self-scout so well that it works?
With a handful of questions, Freeman went in search of answers. Doing what Notre Dame did last season ― its 14 wins were a program best ― doesn't necessarily mean that Freeman has this college football thing figured out. That will still take a few more years.
“To gather an opinion, I want to hear other people’s opinions,” Freeman said. “I want to hear some wisdom.”
And, in some ways, really, in one way, feel that pain. It’s always going to be there. It won’t go away for Freeman at Notre Dame.
Well, maybe one day, in one way, it will.
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at [email protected]
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Can Notre Dame football do in 2025 what it did in 2024, only better?
Continue reading...
It hurt when he stepped out into a bone cold Atlanta night to board a team bus in late January having just coached the longest season in Notre Dame football history.
Noie: What does history tell us about the current Notre Dame football quarterback competition?
It hurt when he stepped through a sea of snow flurries for the Irish Athletic Center and one of his team’s 14 practices in spring.
Noie: How did one group of Notre Dame football fans plan to spend a spring game Saturday?
It hurt when he found himself with a too-rare quiet moment ― at the office, in the car ― as he spent more time than usual as close as possible to home in April and May.
It will hurt as Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman finds ways to unwind this summer before another college football season beckons come the last week of July. He’ll never outrun all the emotions wrapped into that 34-23 College Football Playoff national championship loss to Ohio State on January 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
That’s cool. Let it hurt.
From a big picture perspective, there was a lot for Freeman to like about the 2024 version of Notre Dame football. Subtract that inexplicable/inexcusable home loss to Northern Illinois ― on second thought, don’t, because that’s what helped make Notre Dame football what Notre Dame football was last fall ― and there were plenty of reasons for Freeman to smile.
The 13 straight wins from coast to coast post-Northern Illinois. The first home playoff game/win over Indiana. The victory over Georgia in a Sugar Bowl played one day late because of the Bourbon Street terror attack. The quick turnaround and travel and victory over Penn State in the Orange Bowl, the same Orange Bowl whose trophy sits prominently displayed in a second-floor Guglielmino Complex hallway.
Plenty to be thankful for from a team perspective, until Freeman gets to the end and gets selfish.
There's pain. Devastation. Disappointment. A nagging/gnawing feeling that Notre Dame, on the cusp of winning its first national championship since 1988, couldn’t meet the moment and did something it hadn’t done since NIU.
It underachieved.
“Those are the things that I think about,” the 39-year-old Freeman said Thursday, May 29 during a 33-minute meeting with a group of local media. “I wish we could go back. Let’s do it one more time. (Sigh) We didn’t play our best when our best was needed and the outcome’s the outcome.
“Selfishly, that’s how I feel when I think about that game.”
You could see it in Freeman’s face as he walked up a stadium tunnel that night in Atlanta. You could hear it in his voice Thursday morning on campus. It hurt then. It hurts now.
He carries it. He owns it. In a way, the hurt helps.
If it wasn’t for that game and the pain, Notre Dame might not be where it is as 2025 slowly appears on the horizon out the front window. Nobody knows what the season will hold for Notre Dame, but Freeman promises that he and his program will be better because of everything that happened in 2024.
All those wins ... and that loss. The bar was raised in 2024 at Notre Dame, which might have the makings this season of clearing it. It won’t be easy. It never is there. Freeman won't be shy to try.
“I’m a better coach because of the experience,” said Freeman, 33-10 at Notre Dame. “I’m a better coach because of understanding what that experience was like, what it took.”
Took. Period. Past tense. What it took in 2024 is different than what it will take in 2025. New season. New leadership. New quarterback. New defensive coordinator. New schedule. New challenges.
The head coach is comfortable in his own skin and in the corner office. The culture is bedrock solid. Don’t think that because 2024 happened how it happened that 2025 will just ... happen.
“They understand that we can be as good as anybody in the country,” Freeman said.
But ...
“It’s going to take something different this year,” he said. “It doesn’t just repeat itself. Just because we did it last year doesn’t mean we know the answers.”
Notre Dame must find some early. Often. A new quarterback (CJ Carr or Kenny Minchey), a new defensive coordinator (Chris Ash), a new core won’t have the luxury of soft openings in 2025. Warmup acts aren’t options at Notre Dame, where season starters are all-out sprints.
Hello, Miami (Fla.) under the lights in South Florida. Hello, Texas A&M under the lights in South Bend.
“We start the season with some dingers now,” Freeman said. “We can’t ease into this thing.”
In a way, Freeman eased off when spring practice ended. Instead of traveling around the country to talk ball, either with NFL teams or alumni clubs, he stayed home. He reached out to several NFL coaches ― Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni was one ― for counsel on how to better his program. Better himself.
How can Notre Dame refine game management? How might the Irish maximize practice? Practice smarter? Own analytics? Best evaluate its roster from a financial standpoint? Self-scout so well that it works?
With a handful of questions, Freeman went in search of answers. Doing what Notre Dame did last season ― its 14 wins were a program best ― doesn't necessarily mean that Freeman has this college football thing figured out. That will still take a few more years.
“To gather an opinion, I want to hear other people’s opinions,” Freeman said. “I want to hear some wisdom.”
And, in some ways, really, in one way, feel that pain. It’s always going to be there. It won’t go away for Freeman at Notre Dame.
Well, maybe one day, in one way, it will.
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at [email protected]
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Can Notre Dame football do in 2025 what it did in 2024, only better?
Continue reading...
