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After the Notre Dame football team lost to Ohio State in the National Championship Game of the College Football Playoff (CFP), 34-23, everyone involved, including head coach Marcus Freeman, was undoubtedly disappointed. Despite the Notre Dame football team's heartbreaking loss, Freeman spoke about the team's future.
With the appearance of the Fighting Irish in the title game, as Freeman is a young coach at 39 years old, the sky seems to be the limit for the program. Freeman would echo the same sentiments after the contest, speaking highly of the future that is yet to come according to The Athletic.
“The outlook of Notre Dame football is extremely high,” Freeman said. “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.”
Notre Dame football's Marcus Freeman on the “self-inflicted wounds”
It was a struggle for the Notre Dame football team to get points on the board as after scoring on the first drive of the game, they wouldn't score until after the Buckeyes put up 31 points on the board first. The Fighting Irish would start to catch up when they were down eight points in the fourth quarter, but it was too little too late as Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith made a huge catch towards the end that sealed the game.
“I think more than anything, it was two series after the first one we didn’t execute and we had some self-inflicted wounds that we had to clean up,” Freeman said. “Second half we drove the ball. I thought we did a good job with some tough situations. But we can’t run Riley every single play. That’s not what the formula for success is.”
“There was some things on both sides of the ball that we don’t normally do and some communication mistakes, self-inflicted wounds that we haven’t been doing the past few weeks,” Freeman continued. “You’re always making mistakes, but those type of detrimental mistakes when you play a really, really good football team cost you points.”
Notre Dame football's Marcus Freeman on the future
The Fighting Irish has had a successful season winning 13 straight games including the CFP, which was huge after losing in upset fashion to Northern Illinois that led to many people doubting Freeman and the team. They would prove those doubters wrong, though were unable to achieve the ultimate prize, that won't stop them from going all the way next season.
“Tough moment, tough outcome,” Freeman said via The Athletic after the brutal loss to the media. “We obviously didn’t play the way we needed to to get the outcome we wanted. There’s not many words to say when everyone is hurting. I’m proud of what they’ve done, I’m proud of who they are.”
“You sit up here, and you listen to these two guys speak and the passion they have for Notre Dame and each other in that locker room … one of the greatest gifts in life is to be able to be the leader of this program because you have great young people like this,” Freeman continued. “But we just have to be better. I’ve got to make sure we prepare better for this next opportunity that we have in the future.”
