Marcus Freeman's head coaching career got off to a rough start in South Bend.
His first loss at the helm of the Notre Dame program, a two-point defeat at the hands of Oklahoma State in the 2021 Fiesta Bowl, was hardly a crime. After all, Freeman was less than a month into taking over for Brian Kelly following the end of the regular season. To start his first full season as Fighting Irish head coach in 2022, though, the former Buckeye linebacker had a chance to set the tone for the immediate future of Notre Dame football and send a message to the nation with a win over his alma mater – and in Columbus, no less.
Inadvertently or not, Freeman upped the stakes for the matchup with his letter to the Players Tribune, in which he said, “I just thank God that I didn’t make the wrong decision twice” in reference to choosing Ohio State over Notre Dame as a high school recruit.
But the win that would’ve validated those comments and ignited a stellar start to the Freeman era eluded him. Despite playing the Buckeyes close for three quarters, Ohio State pulled away in the final frame to beat Notre Dame, 21-10. Things got even worse as the Fighting Irish stumbled in their home opener against Marshall, falling 26-21 as Notre Dame dropped from the preseason No. 5 team in the country to out of the rankings by the end of Week 2.
Freeman and company regained momentum, rattling off wins in nine of their final 11 games and scoring a Gator Bowl win over South Carolina to close out the season on a positive note. The Fighting Irish can continue building steam early in their 2023 slate as they face Navy, Tennessee State, NC State and Central Michigan to start the season. After that, Notre Dame will run into an Ohio State team that could threaten to derail its season for the second consecutive year.
This time, though, Freeman is confident things will be different. The second-year head coach explained on Good Morning Football last week that with a full season under his belt and home-field advantage in an OSU matchup that isn’t as early on the schedule, several factors could play into Notre Dame’s hands in the rematch.
“I think you can look back to last year in that first game, you're really your true first game as a head coach, and you go back to your alma mater, and you face a really good football team. We were up with maybe one minute left in the third quarter, and we end up losing 21-10,” Freeman said. “But I think you play them close enough that you kind of mask some of the issues that you have as a program and as a team. Then the next week, we lose to Marshall, and that to me is really where you said, OK, we have to rip off all the layers and figure out what's the issues and really try to correct them with a sense of urgency. That's what we were able to do.
“But you know, as you fast forward this year, we'll play them in Week 5 for us. It's Week 4 in the season, but since we play Week 0, it’ll be Week 5 for us, so we'll know what our football team is all about. We'll know what our strengths are. Listen, it's a lot tougher to play a game in Notre Dame Stadium. We're looking forward to the opportunity.”
Oddsmakers aren’t quite as bullish on Notre Dame’s chances to flip the script on the scarlet and gray. FanDuel currently has the Fighting Irish as an 8.5-point underdog to the Buckeyes despite playing on their own home soil on Sept. 23. Ohio State has only played in South Bend twice in program history, but Notre Dame’s last home win over the Buckeyes was back in 1936. Since then, Ohio State has won its past five matchups with the Fighting Irish, including a 29-16 victory in South Bend in 1996.
As for current times, Freeman thinks one new offensive weapon could make a big difference in the 2023 contest. A year ago, fresh-faced quarterback Tyler Buchner made his first-ever collegiate start in a hostile environment at the Horseshoe, and he mustered just 177 passing yards and no touchdowns. Following a season-ending injury after that, Buchner transferred to Alabama and Wake Forest veteran Sam Hartman entered the fold in South Bend.
"We'll know what our strengths are. Listen, it's a lot tougher to play a game in Notre Dame Stadium. We're looking forward to the opportunity.”– Marcus Freeman on Playing OSU
Hartman, who already has five years of college experience under his belt, didn’t have a single zero-touchdown performance in 2022. Hartman tossed 38 scores in 12 games with the Demon Deacons last season, including a six-touchdown performance against Clemson early in the year. In 2021, Hartman racked up 50 total touchdowns and threw for 4,228 yards.
Suffice to say, the Fighting Irish have a more prolific and battle-tested passer under center entering the new season.
“Our quarterback, Sam Hartman, is a guy that transferred in from Wake Forest, and he is the second leader and passer in ACC football history. He is a talented individual,” Freeman said. “What you learn about the quarterback position when you become a head coach, look, the defensive coordinator is just like, hey, the quarterback is the quarterback. When you become the head coach, that person most simulates the head coach. They get praised for things sometimes they deserve and don't deserve. They get criticized for things they don't deserve, and maybe they deserve. But I've really developed a respect for that position.
“I’m excited to have him here and I'm really looking forward to this season with him as our quarterback.”
Beyond on-field personnel, Freeman believes he’s improved as a leader and a coach after his first season and thinks he’ll be ready for some of the challenges he never had to face before 2022.
“I think it's the experience. That everything last year was the first time as you have an itinerary or you have a blueprint, but you've never actually done it,” Freeman said. “So going into year two, you've done it. You know what to expect, and you learned so much about leadership, about your program, about your players through some of those difficult times. There’s still more to come. You hate to really think about that, but there's gonna be some challenges still coming up that maybe are unforeseen, but I'm excited about the future of this program and this season.”
But regardless of Freeman’s confidence, Ohio State will put all of his aforementioned theories to the test when it heads to South Bend in two months.
