Notre Dame HC Marcus Freeman makes bold admission ahead of clash vs Buckeyes in National Championship Game

Only a few days remain until the new NCAAF champion is crowned. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Ohio State Buckeyes will face off in the National Championship Game in Atlanta, and Marcus Freeman is already anticipating this exciting matchup against Ryan Day’s team and Will Howard.

The last time Notre Dame claimed this title was in 1988, highlighting how special it would be for the team to achieve it again, much to the joy of their fans. Freeman spoke with the press and shared his feelings about this significant event.

“It would be something special,” Freeman stated. “Obviously, this place hasn’t won a national championship since 1988 and every year, the aspirations are to win a national championship. That’s why all these players choose to come to Notre Dame. One of the reasons is to be a part of a program that can win a national championship. And so I think it’s something that they’ll be able to say for the rest of their lives is that they were a part of a national championship football team.

“There’s a lot of work that goes into getting to that outcome, and that’s what we got to focus on, but it would be special for this university and for these players that have poured so much work into getting the results that we have.”

Head coach Marcus Freeman of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates with his team after defeating the Penn State Nittany Lions 27-2 in the Capital One Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium on January 09, 2025 in Miami Gardens, Florida.

The Buckeyes and Fighting Irish will face off next Monday, January 20th, at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of the Atlanta Falcons. The winner will be crowned as the champion of the National Championship Game.

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Notre Dame’s goal is to avoid suffering in the final

Although Notre Dame is in an ideal position to make history in College Football, many times the final results of the games have been very close, not reflecting the flow of the game.

That’s why, as he mentioned after the victory over the Bulldogs, HC Marcus Freeman aims for his team to be much more aggressive with their opponent and not have to endure a close result throughout the game.

“What we didn’t want to do — I think it was a ten-point lead at the half. I didn’t want to ‘survive.’ I think that’s the natural tendency in a big game,” Freeman said after the quarterfinal win. “You’re up ten versus a really good team, to say, ‘Let’s survive.’ No, let’s be aggressive. I didn’t know we were going to come out of the locker room and score a kickoff return touchdown, but that helped.

“And again, it was – that middle eight is something we often talk about. And the ability to close the half in that way and to start the half – the second half with a kickoff return touchdown was huge for the outcome of the game.”

Freeman’s past at Ohio State

During his playing career, Marcus Freeman played as a linebacker for the Buckeyes, but despite this, the current Notre Dame head coach emphasizes that all of that must be set aside, and his sole mission today is with the Fighting Irish.

“In terms of this season, yes, from where we started,” Freeman said of the game being a full circle moment. “You know, the start (with Texas A&M) and you know, the loss to Northern Illinois to now … we’re getting ready to play for the national championship, it’s full circle. This has nothing to do with the past and where I went to school. This is about this opportunity that lies right ahead of us.”