Blue and Gold Illustrated

February 2023

Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football

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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com FEBRUARY 2023 5 C omparing head coaches' first years at particular programs is a futile exercise. Don't say Marcus Freeman is destined for more success at Notre Dame than Brian Kelly just be- cause Freeman went 9-4 in Year 1 while Kelly went 8-5 back in 2010, for example. The two inherited completely contrasting situations. Conversely, don't say Freeman is bound to be a failure because he posted an eerily similar first-year mark as that of Charlie Weis in 2005. Weis went 9-3. The reality is first-year records are overrated unless they sway to one extreme or the other. 12-0 with a College Football Playoff berth? You have my attention. 5-7 with no postseason appearance whatsoever? Welcome to the hot seat. 9-4 with a win in a mid-level bowl game? OK, that's fine, let's see what happens next. Why assess what Freeman did by stacking up 2022's results to those of 2010, 2005 or even Ty- rone Willingham's 10-3 first-year campaign in 2002? There isn't any point in that. What the head coaches of those editions of the Irish did does not have anything to do with Freeman in any way. So, let's just focus on him. Freeman coached Notre Dame to a bowl victory, the first of his career, less than two weeks before his 37th birthday. The surreal part? It wasn't even his first time to roam a postseason sideline as the head coach. That occurred nine days before his celebration of his 36th trip around the sun. Freeman lost the Fiesta Bowl to top-10 Oklahoma State squad that day. Then he lost the first two games of the 2022 season. In September, fans weren't wrong to wonder if he was in over his head. Freeman became the first Notre Dame head coach to ever lose his first three games on the job. Even Freeman retroactively said he was lost. "I didn't know what was going on," Freeman said in October. Then, with a backup quarterback, Freeman guided Notre Dame to an 8-2 record in the final 10 games of the regular season. Those eight wins included three against teams that were ranked at the time of kickoff. The Irish stunned then-No. 4 Clemson 35-14 in South Bend Nov. 5. The triumph over No. 19 South Carolina in the Gator Bowl Dec. 30 was Freeman's fourth ranked win of the season. Not bad for a coach who "didn't know what was going on." The fact of the matter is now, he most certainly does. He grew as the weeks went on, and his team got better. There was genuine fear that all the positive momentum from one of the most high- profile offseasons not just in Notre Dame history but in college football history would be completely eradicated with an unforgettable season for all the wrong reasons. Instead, a year after people could not get enough of Freeman and the breath of fresh air he brought to South Bend, many of those sentiments still remain. Winning cures all. Now, another 9-4 season in 2023 would kill the aforementioned mo- mentum. Freeman received a pass of sorts for losing sophomore start- ing quarterback Tyler Buchner in Week 2 and playing 10 games with junior backup Drew Pyne. A 9-4 ledger was fine because of that. He should receive credit for maturing as a head coach and looking much more competent versus a top-five opponent on the road against USC Nov. 26 than he did against Ohio State Sept. 3, too, even if his squad lost both games by the same margin. There were ups and downs. Freeman learned how to take them in stride. The next step is to make sure there are significantly more ups than downs. No two seasons are ever the same. Hence, the opening warning not to compare Freeman to 2010's version of Kelly and so on. But progress is progress, and in this game it's usu- ally measured numerically. Ten wins is better than nine. Freeman wants to win a national championship. Those cost at least 13 wins at the register in this economy. Comparisons are still going to be drawn between Freeman and his prede- cessors. The masses will point out Kelly went 8-5 again in 2011 to post a mark of 16-10 in his first two seasons. Including the Fiesta Bowl, Freeman is 9-5. An 8-5 season for Freeman in 2023 would give him a record that's one win better than that of Kelly in the left-hand column and a dead-even number of losses. But is that the goal? Absolutely not. The objective is to keep trending toward the sport's top prize. Kelly got close, and he didn't do it by matching himself up with the accolades of, say, Lou Holtz. For Freeman, it's about building on the positives. Learning from the nega- tives. And leaving senseless juxtaposi- tions for outsiders. ✦ GOLDEN GAMUT TYLER HORKA Tyler Horka has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 2021. He can be reached at thorka@blueandgold.com Marcus Freeman became the first Notre Dame head coach to ever lose his first three games on the job, but he bounced back to win nine of his next 11, including four against teams that were ranked at the time of kickoff. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER Don't Play The Comparison Game

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