BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 11, 2025 7
UNDER THE DOME
BY TYLER HORKA
I
t wasn't until Notre Dame's 13-game
winning streak came to a crashing halt
in the national championship game that
head coach Marcus Freeman was able to
stop and reflect on what his team had
just accomplished in the 2024 season.
A lot. The Fighting Irish accom-
plished a lot.
"I think as you look back at last year
as a whole, you say, 'Man, they got mo-
mentum, and they got rolling,'" Free-
man said. "I hope at the end of this sea-
son we'll look back and say the same
thing, but in the moment you just have
to focus on constant improvement."
In that answer, Freeman admitted to
what Blue & Gold Illustrated was get-
ting at in asking the question in the first
place. Momentum is real. It's just that
when a team is in the fire and actually
carrying it with them, those involved
tend to be so consumed with the tasks at
hand that they hardly notice it's them-
selves who are metaphorically on fire.
It's themselves who cannot be put out.
UNDER THE DOME
Marcus Freeman is the only Notre Dame head coach in program history with two 0-2 starts to a season, but he rebounded with winning streaks both times.
PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER
IN A GROOVE
Notre Dame quickly wiped away the pain
of an 0-2 start with two emphatic victories
