Notre Dame Football: Three takeaways from Notre Dames 42-3 win over Navy
By Eric Boggs
Marcus Freeman looks more comfortable in year two
Marcus Freeman was 9-5 overall as head coach at Notre Dame coming into the season. There is a lot of expectations on Freeman to do for Notre Dame what Brian Kelly could not, and that is get Notre Dame over the hump and back into the college football national championship conversation. Despite all the success Kelly had as Notre Dame’s Head Coach, 92-40 overall, whenever Kelly got Notre Dame to the National Championship game or College Football Playoff, the Irish were severally overmatched.
If Freeman is going to get over that hump, it starts with recruiting. Despite some of the recruiting success he has had the past two cycles, Notre Dame is still missing out on some of the more highly ranked recruits who they will need to land if they plan to compete with the Georgia’s, Alabama’s, and Ohio State’s of the college football would.
With NIL such a huge part of the recruiting landscape, it has been unclear if Notre Dame’s NIL plan has been as organized and as financially deep as some of the bigger programs in the country. If you can’t, or if you refuse to spend the money needed, then you have to win games on the field and give these recruits another reason to want to wear your teams’ colors. That’s the battle Freeman is facing, and on Saturday, he won that first battle, winning big on national television when all eyes were on him.
Later this season when Ryan Day, Lincoln Riley, and Dabo Swinney are standing across the sideline from Freeman, will he pucker up again? If Saturday was any indication, the answer to that question is no. Freeman showed he belonged last season when he outcoached Swinney. Now he will need to do that again and this time he will need to also beat Day and or Riley to show everyone, including the Notre Dame brass that he is worth investing in and opening those checkbooks for NIL dollars when it comes to recruiting.