Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM FEBRUARY 2025 7 UNDER THE DOME UNDER THE DOME Absorbing Critical Injuries Meant Everything By Todd D. Burlage Throughout this magical season, unlikely heroes, unexpected developments and pleasant surprises seemingly highlighted every game. But the top storyline through all of it was watching the Notre Dame depth emerge as the program's best that we have seen in at least 25 years. "Next man in" was a popular mantra used by former Irish head coach Brian Kelly. But Kelly's on-field results in big games when the injury bug bit never really matched up. That all changed this season under head coach Mar- cus Freeman. The injury avalanche began in the preseason when starting left offensive tackle Charles Jagusah was lost for the regular season with a knee injury. Later, All-American cornerback Benjamin Morrison was gone with a hip injury. Vyper Jordan Botelho, center Ashton Craig, vyper Boubacar Traore and defensive tackle Rylie Mills were also all sidelined with knee injuries, and so on and so on. No matter. Because of the depth and climate built by the Irish coaches, reserve players such as freshman cornerback Leonard Moore, junior defensive lineman Donovan Hinish, freshman defensive lineman Bryce Young and many others were ready to roll when called upon, which made injury survival this season seem seamless. When we talk about Notre Dame's secrets to playoff success, there are many to choose from. But a willingness by the backup players to stay engaged, and an ability by the Irish coaches to develop and keep them engaged, was the key ingredient to this CFP run. This Team Knows Its Identity Like Few Others Have By Jack Soble The thing I think Notre Dame fans should appreciate most about this team: It never tries to be something it's not. Offensively, the Irish know they're never going to win games with prolific pass- ing numbers. They don't have the pass catchers or the quarterback for that. What they do have is a dominant, multi-faceted run game, pass catchers who know their role and do their job and a quarterback who wins in late-game situations. They own that identity. They embrace it. Defensively, Notre Dame just attacks. Al Golden calls single-high man coverage in all situations, because he knows he has the defensive backs to execute it. He uses it to create havoc on the front end and turnovers on the back end. He'll mix it up with zone change-ups, but in the most important situations, he's sending pressure and it's worked more often than not. Finally, from a game management standpoint, the Irish will play and coach every game the same way. When it's fourth-and-1 outside their own 40, not a single player on the Notre Dame sideline questions what head coach Marcus Freeman is going to do. Even inside their own 40, none of the Irish bat an eye when Freeman suggests running the punt team off the field at their own 18-yard line with a 13-point, fourth-quarter lead on Georgia. That's just what they do. Fickle teams get scared, coach not to lose and play not to lose in high-stakes matchups. That's what Indiana, for all the (to paraphrase Nick Saban) trash head coach Curt Cignetti likes to talk, did in the first round in South Bend. When the lights were brightest, the Hoosiers went away from what got them there. Notre Dame hasn't done that. Notre Dame will never do that. Point ✦ Counterpoint: WHAT WAS THE KEY TEAM DYNAMIC IN NOTRE DAME'S CFP RUN? Even from a distance, and almost 20 years re- moved since they last worked together, former Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel still marvels at the way Marcus Freeman is handling his rapid coaching rise inside the pressure cooker that Notre Dame provides. Freeman, who turned 39 on Jan. 10, is handling things so well, in fact, that on Dec. 15 — five days before Notre Dame beat Indiana in the first round of the College Football Playoff — he was rewarded with a four-year contract extension that will re- portedly pay him more than $9 million a year and keep him on the Irish sideline through 2030. Tressel, 72, coached Freeman at Ohio State in 2007-08, and then provided his former player his first coaching gig in 2010 as a graduate assistant with the Buckeyes. That launched a quick coach- ing rise for Freeman, from entry-level assistant to one of the top head coaching jobs in college football. Blue & Gold Illustrated recently caught up with Tressel — who retired in 2023 as the president at Youngstown State University — to discuss the job that Freeman has done so far, his lucrative contract extension, and what's next. BGI: What inspired you to give Marcus Freeman his first coaching job? Tressel: "We always made our hires based upon the kind of people we thought they were, not necessarily an X's or an O's genius. We wanted to surround our program with great people, and Marcus was the right kind of person." BGI: Notre Dame's loss to Northern Illinois in Week 2 seemed devastating at that time. What did Freeman do to keep things together? Tressel: "We all know that Notre Dame is one of the toughest jobs in the country. And it couldn't have been easy for Marcus to stay calm with how quickly everything happened, but he handled it very well. "You don't have time to see what people are say- ing, or read what they're saying. You already don't have enough hours in a day." BGI: Why was Freeman worthy of such a lucra- tive contract extension? Tressel: "Marcus is there to work with his team. He's there to work with his staff, and to make a dif- ference in the Notre Dame community. It's bigger for him than just the game. It's about being true to what you believe in." BGI: College football coaching has changed so dramatically, what's the secret to handling it? Tressel: "If you think culture and team and all of those things used to be important, it's even more important now as your rosters change more dra- matically. It's hard. So, the people who do a better job of having a comprehensive, holistic program, they'll be the ones that survive, and Marcus is well equipped to do that." BGI: From graduate assistant to Notre Dame head coach in 14 years, what went into that rapid ascension for Freeman? Tressel: "Everyone gets to where they are in a different way. For Marcus, all of a sudden he goes from being an assistant coach for a relatively short time, and now he's the head coach at a place like Notre Dame. That's an impressive career path." — Todd D. Burlage Five Questions With … Former Ohio State Head Coach Jim Tressel Head coach Marcus Freeman guided the Irish to the most wins (14) in a single season in program history in 2024. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER Tressel coached Marcus Freeman at Ohio State in 2007-08 and then provided his former player his first coaching gig in 2010. PHOTO COURTESY YOUNGSTOWN STATE