*Note: this was written before Eric posted his own long-term perspective (which you should check out here) so there will be some overlapping thoughts.

So this is what we were promised when we became fans of Notre Dame football. If you’re like me, we grew up on stories about the Notre Dame Magic™ and what made this university and this team different from everyone else. We heard all about the Four Horsemen, the Chicken Soup Game, and “Leave Jimmy Johnson’s ass for me.” I don’t care what anyone else thinks, no program in college football has as rich a legacy as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Yet as we know too well, that legacy can be a millstone that drags players and fans to the depths of hell when expectations aren’t met. If we are being honest with ourselves, the 1993 Notre Dame team which beat Charlie Ward and FSU was the last true championship-caliber squad to come out of South Bend. They were worthy of being champions even if those AP scoundrels didn’t think so. I was -1 years old for that season but I’m willing to bet that those who experienced it didn’t think they’d have to wait 31 years for another NY6 bowl win.

The Holtz era petered out and was replaced by Bob Davie’s lackluster tenure. Embarrassment followed with the O’Leary debacle and Ty Willingham’s abysmal recruiting essentially self-imposed sanctions on the program. The first two seasons of Weis were fun before the team plunged to an unprecedented place: consistent competitive irrelevance. For his many faults, Brian Kelly restored the winning but failed to restore the legacy. We thought we could see tiny hints of a true return to glory in Marcus Freeman’s first two years but you’d have to really squint to see the makings of a champion.

You won’t need glasses to see this one. 31 years after the 1993 Game of the Century comes a true heir to the Notre Dame legacy. I fully recognize that a massive Ohio State win next Monday will make this piece look silly and hyperbolic but I really don’t care. Consider this a time capsule, a snapshot of how we felt in the moment. Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman will play for a national championship and while they might not win, they have earned it in a way other Irish teams have not. They deserve a column that recognizes just how special this team is and how lucky we are to have seen this run.

Who We Really Are

When you look back through the annals of Irish football history you see all of the fabled moments that give Notre Dame its lore. The stories of Knute Rockne and George Gipp explains why Notre Dame is what it is today, but it doesn’t explain how or why the Irish won in the moment. What we all felt the week after a big win. For me, the best stories about ND football are about how damn competitive those teams were. How they absolutely refused to be the weaker team. How they listened to talking heads pontificate about how they didn’t stand a chance only to watch them scramble for a new narrative the following week.

The truth is that opposing fans, players, and pundits never really respected the Irish back in the glory days either. If you go back and read about the buildup to the ’93 FSU game you’ll see a lot of the same things said about Notre Dame football today. Not fast enough, doesn’t have a difference-maker at QB, and only rated where they are because of history. That Florida State team was great and they thought there was no way the Irish would even come close to beating them. It’s why they kept up with “Rock Knutne” jokes, wore green hats during their walk to the stadium, and why they tried to psych out Lou Holtz’s squad by running out of the tunnel first.

But they learned a valuable lesson that day: the true Notre Dame legacy isn’t the Disney version with green jerseys or George Gipp, it’s whooping your ass for 60 minutes. It’s turning you into the worst possible version of yourself. Those guys from FSU lined up expecting to face the media version of Notre Dame: a team too obsessed with its past to be a major threat. A team which lacked the mental and physical toughness to win in modern college football. A team that lives off the name and not talent.

Instead, they found a team that is so disciplined that you have to play damn-near perfect football to beat them. A defense that will knock the wind out of you when you least expect it and an offense that you just wish would stop bullying you. When Notre Dame is great, they don’t just beat you. They make you want to quit. They make you wish the game was 30 minutes long instead of 60. They make you execute play, after play, after play with precision until you’re eventually worn out. The second you let go of the rope is the second you lose because you will not get away with making mistakes. That’s how you find yourself praying that the writers will save your championship hopes because you couldn’t get the job done on the field.

The Return

Let me tell you, the 1993 team I described earlier is the team that Indiana, Georgia and Penn State lined up against this postseason. The 2024 Irish turn their opponent into the worst possible version of themselves. They punish every mistake no matter how small. If you fail a run fit, Jeremiyah Love is going the distance. If you miss a blitz assignment, your QB is going to be eaten alive. If you’re a second-teamer and you lose focus in punt protection, a true freshman is sending the ball in the opposite direction.

Indiana and Georgia desperately wanted to run the ball and they tried their damnest. Georgia especially came out with an arrogant gameplan that would’ve worked against the 2012 or 2018 Notre Dame defense. On their first series of the game, the Dawgs’ offense snapped the ball on six plays. Four of them were designed runs which went for a combined -1 yard. The first of two passes led to a pass interference penalty (the only successful play of the drive) before Gunner Stockton was decked by Jack Kiser for a 12-yard sack on 3rd down. Watch the UGA players after that play and you can see the thought bubble pop up over their heads: “This isn’t the Notre Dame we were told would show up.”

Penn State desperately wanted to be aggressive in the passing game. They ran the ball better on this defense than any other team the whole season but Drew Allar craved a kill shot through the air. He looked for it all night long but couldn’t find it, forcing throws and getting away with two inteceptions that were called back by penalty. With the game on the line, James Franklin did the same thing Kirby Smart did at the end of the first half in the Sugar Bowl. He got aggressive because he thought his QB could get an easy one on this Irish defense in a high leverage situation.

It’s just that Franklin forgot that this team doesn’t lose big moments. Ever. Like RJ Oben in the Sugar Bowl, Christian Gray punished this rookie mistake. Don’t let them get away with the narrative that Allar lost the game for PSU because Notre Dame’s defense made his life a living hell. He became the worst version of himself because of Gray, Jaylon Sneed and a defense that can’t be out-executed in crunch time. This isn’t luck, this is discipline. It’s making your opponent think he has something when he’s actually playing right into your hands.

That bewildered look on Drew Allar’s face should look familiar to Irish fans. It’s the same one that Gunner Stockton, Kurtis Rourke, and every other QB on ND’s schedule wore after they fell into the same trap. Here are the combined passing numbers for opponents this year: 12 touchdowns and 19 interceptions on 50.7% completion percentage. That’s a passer rating of 99.5 which would rank 133rd out of 134 QBs who have thrown at least 200 passes. My friends that is not luck. That is dominance and no team has had an answer for it so far.

Dudes with Attitude

Who is a Dude? A Dude is a player who makes you take notice. He jumps off the screen and makes opposing coaches think “damn I wish we had that guy on our team.” He inspires loyalty in his teammates and fear in his opponents. We haven’t been missing Dudes. Kyle Hamilton, Quenton Nelson and Jaylon Smith are three of the baddest Dudes in Irish football history and we were blessed to have them all in the past 12 years. Hell, we just played a major Dude in Tyler Warren. You can always tell when there’s a Dude on the field.

The problem under Kelly is that we simply did not have enough of those players and his non-Dudes never really stepped up when needed them the most. It’s the main reason why big games went so poorly. Go back and rewatch the 2013 title game (actually maybe don’t) and you’ll see that Notre Dame’s defensive line held up pretty well against those Titans on Bama’s o-line. But the linebackers and secondary could not have played any worse and that’s why the regular season’s #1 defense fell apart.

This team has had every excuse to collapse in the same manner but their Dudes refuse to let that happen. I hope you all realize that Jeremiyah Love is our Reggie Bush, a singular force who do things no other player on the field can. That touchdown run against Penn State is so unbelieveably cool, even cooler than those hurdles we get every other game. Riley Leonard is a dude too. The guy might be the human equivalent of a Golden Retriever but man does he piss off opposing defenders when he slips through their grasp. Or when he leaps over an All-American safety to convert a key 3rd down against the SEC champions. You should also count the time he had to leave the Orange Bowl due to injury only to lead a roaring comeback after some thought he should be benched for Steve Angeli.

Safety Adon Shuler arrived at Notre Dame as more of a consolation prize after 5-star Peyton Bowen left the recruiting class on Signing Day. After sitting for a year he has been a key contributor this season but not an out-and-out star… yet. But against Georgia, he elevated his game and joined his teammate Xavier Watts as a Dude. He played angry and forced a key fumble early that snuffed out Georgia’s longest drive of the game.

You want to know what this play reminds me of? Like I said, this Notre Dame team has the right DNA.

Marcus Freeman, I am Speechless

About four months ago, I wasn’t sure that Marcus Freeman was the right coach for Notre Dame and I know I wasn’t alone. Three weeks ago, I was still trepedatious before the IU game. You better believe I’m ready to eat some crow now.

Please understand that what this guy is accomplishing is literally unprecedented in the history of college football. Notre Dame was a really good program under Brian Kelly. They were in an exclusive club of teams that made the four-team playoff and put a healthy amount of players in the NFL. But the hardest thing to do is go from good to great and it became evident that wasn’t going to happen under Kelly. Notre Dame made a humongous risk in promoting their first-year defensive coordinator who was barely old enough to be eligible to run for president. Jack Swarbrick pushed all his chips to the center of the table in the pursuit of bringing a championship back to this university. There is no other blueblood program in America that would gamble like this.

None of us could’ve seen just how well it would pay off by year three. Show me any other team in the country that could not just withstand the injuries that Notre Dame has suffered, but continue to get better. They just keep improving every game! That is a credit to coaching. The relentlessness that this team plays with on the field is the result of relentlessness in the weight room, in film study, and in practice. It’s a credit to Freeman and the outstanding culture he’s built where guys don’t flinch. This article would be pushing 5,000 words if I paid tribute to every player who’s stepped into a starting role and performed brilliantly.

My two favorite coaching moments from this season have come in the last two games. Example #1 is from the Sugar Bowl following Kiser’s sack of Stockton. Before Bryce Young [allegedly] roughed the punter, Notre Dame slid its punt block team to the right of UGA’s formation. The Georgia up-man changed the protection to try and deal with the incoming pressure only for the Irish to slide even more players to that side. That’s Marcus Freeman saying to Kirby Smart “Nope, you are not escaping this. You are going to play the game the way I want it to be played.”

UGA faced a choice of calling timeout or risking a blocked punt and chose the latter. No block this time, but UGA’s brand new punter got knocked down (twice) and never really into a groove, only booting one punt over 40 yards. That’s what Freeman’s emphasis on special teams has done. By being the aggressor in this facet, Notre Dame is either making opponents overly cautious/paranoid (see the fake field goal against IU) or forcing them to take massive risks when kickers are on the field. Whereas Brian Kelly preferred a special teams approach that was simply “do no harm,” Marcus Freeman has turned this element of the game into a real weapon.

Example #2 is the critical 3rd and 3 on Notre Dame’s last drive in the Orange Bowl. Two Riley Leonard runs brought the Irish within Mitch Jeter’s striking range at the 35-yard line but a 52-yard field goal is still a dicey proposition for any kicker. With 23 seconds left it would’ve been entirely defensible to run one more time and take your chances. But Marcus Freeman has played to win this season and he wasn’t about to turtle with berth in the title game on the line. He empowered Mike Denbrock to call a pass play and for Leonard to execute. PSU’s defense was caught totally off-guard and Jaden Greathouse made a great catch to ensure that Jeter would have the easiest kick possible. Ticket to Atlanta = punched.

Between all the injuries, the bounceback after NIU, and the brilliant in-game coaching, it is quite likely that we are watching the greatest coaching job in Notre Dame football history. Think about that for a minute. Al Golden, Mike Denbrock, and the rest of the position coaches also deserve their flowers for turning this team into an elite ballclub. We will need one more GOATed performance on January 20 but we should all feel confident that this staff is up to the job.

They Can Do This

Let’s get one thing straight: the National Championship Game against Ohio State should not be another embarassment on the biggest stage for the Irish. We all fondly remember the 2012, 2018, and 2020 teams for getting to that stage but the harsh fact is that they just weren’t good enough to win a championship. We all kinda knew it in the back of our minds before they were exposed but it becomes evident once we consult the advanced stats.

2012 Notre Dame:
#10 in FEI
#15 in F+/-
#12 in SP+
2012 Alabama was #1 in all three categories

2018 Notre Dame:

#15 in FEI
#10 in F+/-
#8 in SP+
2018 Clemson was #2, #3, and #3

2020 Notre Dame:

#10 in FEI
#9 in F+/-
#10 in SP+
Bama was #1 in all three

This year, Notre Dame is #2 in FEI, #4 in F+/- (has not been updated after PSU) and #5 in SP+. They are a fantastic team that has more than earned their right to be here. Unlike in 2012, this team did not need divine intervention to avoid a loss to a 6-6 Pitt team. Unlike 2018, this team didn’t fall behind 10-0 and labor to a seven-point win against 5-7 USC. And unlike 2020, they handled a very good Louisville team while scoring more than one offensive touchdown. Forget the weak schedule, they would’ve killed a good schedule too with how they played in the regular season.

2024 Ohio State is a great team and better than the squad which escaped Notre Dame Stadium with a somewhat undeserved win last fall. But the Buckeyes have shown they can be dragged into an uncomfortable game where they become undisciplined, emotional, and prone to meltdown. As we’ve established, there is no team in America better at forcing teams to play their style than Notre Dame. Ohio State landed two technical knockouts aginst Tennessee and Oregon before Texas succeeded in disrupting their tempo. Only extremely passive playcalling from Steve Sarkisian prevented an overtime game.

How will the Buckeyes react to a team that is coaching to win on every single play? A team that treats a routine punt like it’s the Super Bowl. Michigan beat Ohio State because they played that way and the Buckeyes couldn’t match that intensity. What will they do if Ryan Day looks up at the scoreboard and sees a tie game in the fourth quarter? Emotional and talented teams are capable of unparalleled greatness but they are also prone to making mistakes when the lights are brightest.

Take a Moment to Appreciate What this Means

I’m pushing past 3,000 words so I’ll be brief with this last part. This has been the most unexpected and remarkable season I can ever remember, even moreso than 2012. That team was so much fun but didn’t have to go through the pain of suffering an early loss and were never the juggarnaut that Notre Dame was at points this season. When the new playoff format was announced many pessimistic Irish fans pointed out that the team would have to beat three big-time opponents just to even get to the title game. They would have to win two major bowl games in one week, something that Lou Holtz never had to deal with. So they simultaneously had to break a long postseason losing streak and beat peer title contenders when 31 years of evidence suggested that would be highly improbable.

But Marcus Freeman did exactly that. In his third year on the job. With a team decimated by injury.

The best part is that I’ve given up trying to figure out how they’re doing this. None of this makes sense if you’re box score watching. 90 yards passing against Georgia? Comfortable 13-point win. 2.8 ypc in the Orange Bowl while Penn State runs for 204 yards? Offset by Riley Leonard dropping passes into a bucket. Someone always steps up in the big moment and it’s a different player every time. If we beat Ohio State on Monday, it’ll be someone different again. More likely it will be multiple guys who answer the bell when no one expects them to.

Although I don’t think it will happen, a blowout loss to OSU is on the table next week which would really suck. But this is not 2012 and the coach is not Brian Kelly. This team accomplished something no other Irish team ever has and have done it in style. They may not win a title but they better be remembered for what they’ve done. If this isn’t the beginning of another Holtzian run we can at least look back on the 2024 Fighting Irish as one worthy of Notre Dame’s outstanding legacy. This is the team we were promised as kids.

See you all back here after January 20.