178 days after losing to Ohio State in National Championship, Marcus Freeman opens up on pressure of delivering title at Notre Dame

Marcus Freeman was one game away from giving the Notre Dame Fighting Irish a national championship. However, the Ohio State Buckeyes denied them in the history books in the biggest game of the season.

The Fighting Irish are one of the most iconic programs in college football and have 11 national championships to their name. However, the last one of these came in 1988, nearly 40 years ago.

On Thursday's edition of "Unsportsmanlike," Freeman spoke about the pressure to win a national championship for the Fighting Irish, knowing that they recently came very close.

"For us to be as close as we were last year, everybody in our program told us,"we know what it takes, we can compete with the best. " It has helped us with the younger generations. You have to get the best players in the country that fit our football program. Being able to make that national championship run has opened the eyes of a lot of high school kids."

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As with the majority of seasons, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish came into the 2024 season as a potential contender for at least a spot in the College Football Playoff. With the expanded 12-team format (and Notre Dame's independent status), qualification for the playoffs would be easy.

Despite a surprising defeat to Northern Illinois in week 2, Freeman led the team to a playoff spot. They then went on a stellar run, defeating Indiana, Georgia, and then Penn State to make the championship game.

This run showed fans that it is possible for Notre Dame to be able to make a national championship run, even with a team that is significantly weaker than most of their BIG TEN and SEC rivals.

The success from the 2024 season may give Notre Dame a boost in momentum coming into the 2025 season. However, with a new quarterback and high expectations placed on the program, can Marcus Freeman make it to back-to-back national championship games?

The impact of Notre Dame's recruitment

One bonus to having a strong season in 2024 that Freeman pointed out is that they have seen a boost in high school players committing to the school for future classes.

Seeing Notre Dame make a national championship game has inspired them to sign for the program, as under Freeman, Notre Dame has been competitive. The 2025 class has only 24 enrollments, with a majority of these players being four-star recruits.

The 2026 class (mostly signed this summer after the national championship appearance) currently has 26 players committed, with multiple five-star ranked players like edge rusher Rodney Durham. This number is expected to increase in the coming weeks.

The intake of high-caliber players will only increase the chances of Notre Dame making another run to the national championship game in the future.

About the author

Ben Tredinnick is a journalist who covers college football and college basketball at Sportskeeda who is currently studying for a masters in Data Science. His degree in Psychology has helped him gain an in-depth understanding of the minds of coaches.

Ben has been involved in sports writing since 2022 and covered the NFL previously. His strengths include providing in-depth profiles of athletes and coaches, with a particular focus on development, and looking at which teams could be in the hunt for today's college stars.

Ben enjoys following college sports more than the NBA or NFL because there is more variation in terms of playstyles. The tournaments are often more competitive than the major leagues, and due to the constant turnover of players, there are rarely any "superteams" in college sports.

He prioritizes research, looks at multiple sources and publications to make sure he gets the full picture of the story before writing. He tries not to write from a one-sided perspective to allow the reader to be able to make their mind up on their own.

A Texas Longhorns fan, as well as a massive New York Giants fan, some of his favorite college players of all time are Arch Manning, Tim Tebow and Reggie Bush.

When he is not working, Ben enjoys watching films (especially Godzilla) and spending time with his cat.

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Edited by Gio Vergara