Notre Dame Football Preview 2025: Marcus Freeman Has Made the Fighting Irish Cool
X CFN, Fiu | CFN Facebook | Bluesky Fiu, CFN Notre Dame Offense BreakdownNotre Dame Defense BreakdownSeason Prediction, Win Total, Keys to SeasonI'm the guy who overhonks at fans who get mad when their team wins a ton of games, but it's still not enough. It takes a whole lot of luck to win ten or more college football games in a season, and to do even more, all the planets have to be correctly aligned.It takes the right year, the right breaks, and ...Marcus Freeman chewed all that up and spat it out.
What luck and what breaks did Notre Dame get last year - other than the all-conference-champion-top-four-seed thing that let the Irish enjoy the extra time off without having to play a conference championship? That, and not having to deal with Carson Beck, because Georgia's 13th game was the SEC Championship and Notre Dame's 13th was at home against Indiana ... but I digress ...
Everyone has injuries, but Notre Dame was hammered too hard. The Irish lost star offensive lineman Charles Jagusah from an already questionable line before the season started. (He came back late in the run.) All-America cornerback Benjamin Morrison went down with a knee injury. Star defensive tackle Rylie Mills got hurt in the playoff. Those were just a few of the lost parts as the Irish had to do some serious lineup juggling throughout the season.And what did Freeman do? Next man up, keep it all going, and all with a positive attitude that it was going to be okay. And it was.
Notre Dame inexplicably forgot to get off the bus for the home opener against Northern Illinois. That was it. Season over. There was no way this team could go on a ten-win run with dangerous dates at USC and Georgia Tech to go, and with Florida State - at the time, that seemed like an issue - and Louisville to deal with. And what did Freeman do? Win the next game, keep it all going, and all with a positive attitude that it was going to be okay. And it was.
Did the Irish get SMU, or Boise State, or Clemson, or Arizona State in the College Football Playoff? Okay, so it got Indiana in the first round, but they had to deal with SEC Champion Georgia, and then Penn State, and then Ohio State.And what did Freeman do? His team found ways to push forward, keep it all going, and all with a positive attitude that it was going to be okay. And even with the loss to the Buckeyes - the Irish gave a big shove to the best team in college football by far - it was. Notre Dame had the winningest season in the historic program's history, and by two over the four teams (1988, 1989, 2012, 2018) that got to 12.
There's nothing sour about Freeman. There's zero whining, no excuses, and all with the exact type of get-the-job-done style that everyone is looking for.This year's team is just as deep and possibly even better if the quarterback play is good enough. The base is energized, a bumping recruiting class is on the way, the media spotlight is brighter than ever, and it's all because Notre Dame has the guy. And now what does Marcus Freeman have to do? Keep winning lots and lots of games, and then everything will be okay. Notre Dame Offense BreakdownNotre Dame Defense BreakdownSeason Prediction, Win Total, Keys to Season
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