Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman led his team to a national championship game appearance in January but lost to eventual champions, the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Fighting Irish were also beaten 41-40 by the Texas A&M Aggies in South Bend on Saturday, dropping to 0-2 this season.The loss followed the 27-24 defeat to the Miami Hurricanes in Week 1. However, ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit backed Freeman's team to still have a good season despite their winless start."I personally think, because they competed in these games, they took Miami down to the wire and competed and lost late," Kirk Herbstreit said on Monday, via the "Nonstop" podcast. "Obviously, in this game with A&M, competed down to the wire. I think when the dust settles, we'll see A&M's a very good football team."So, I'm with you, I don't think this season's over, I don't think they're done even if they finish 10-2. There's so much football still left to be played. I'm actually impressed with Notre Dame."Marcus Freeman addresses Notre Dame's 0-2 startMarcus Freeman had one of the best defenses in the country last season under former Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden. However, Golden left to take the same job with the Cincinnati Bengals. Under the Fighting Irish's new defensive coordinator, Chris Ash, the team's defense has looked suspect. Texas A&M Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed averaging 21.1 yards per throw on Saturday.Freeman addressed Notre Dame's 0-2 start to the season during his postgame news conference after the Week 3 loss."You gotta go to work and practice and get better," Freeman said. "We're 0-2. So what do you control? You control getting better and getting ready for the next one. I can't sit here and dwell on being 0-2 as much as I need to dwell on how do we find ways to improve. That's what I need to dwell on is how do we get better? "How do we evaluate what we're doing, why things are and aren't working and how do we attack them and get better? So we're 0-2, lost to two good opponents. We're guaranteed 12, that's what we always say. We've got the next one coming up soon."Next up for the Fighting Irish is a clash against Purdue. They also faced the Boilermakers last season and defeated them 66-7. It was the first of 13 straight victories after the shocking loss to the Northern Illinois Huskies in South Bend in Week 2.