NFL News NFL News, Reports and Updates
Jan. 14—SOUTH BEND — For the first time in the College Football Playoff-era, Notre Dame is headed to the National Championship game.
And in the battle between two blue-bloods, the Fighting Irish are in an unlikely position as the pesky and resilient underdog.
From laughed-at to lovable, No. 7-seed Notre Dame (14-1) has taken an uncommon path, and an unusual role as they remain just one of two teams left playing in the sport’s longest-ever season. While their opponent, No. 8-seed Ohio State (13-2) maintains their role as near double-digit favorites, it’s the Irish’s adaptability, resolve, and blind faith that has created few detractors, and limitless believers in South Bend.
Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame’s third-year head coach, is the source of the team’s remarkable run to the final. Turning 39 just hours after the Fighting Irish’s Orange Bowl victory over Penn State last week, the youthful belief in his team has been directed top-down.
Following after Gerry Faust (1981-95), Bob Davie (1997-2001) and Charlie Weis (2005-2009), Freeman is just the fourth person to begin his head coaching career with the Irish. Early on and as late as this season, Freeman’s path was looking similar to theirs: short-lived.
He was the coach behind losses at home to Marshall and Stanford in his first season. His second-year stain of having 10 players on the field relent the winning score against Ohio State was only topped by a humiliating loss to Northern Illinois this season — just a week after earning what was his biggest win of his career at Texas A&M.
Faust, Davie and Weis only lasted five seasons. None won more than 35 games. Freeman, now leading the Irish against his alma mater, will be playing for win No. 34 in just his third season.
Just like the program had to do when Notre Dame’s winningest head coach suddenly departed for LSU, the…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nd-notebook-adaptability-resolve-faith-031600971.html
Author : Goshen News, Ind.
Publish date : 2025-01-15 03:16:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
