Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM DECEMBER 2025 45 W hen Notre Dame ran out of the tunnel for its Week 13 game a ga i n s t Sy ra c u se , t h e I r i s h weren't expecting a 70-7 final score. They were ready for, as Irish head coach Marcus Freeman put it, "the fight of their lives." "They were ready to go," Freeman said. "The film showed that we better be prepared for a tough game. Watching the film, you don't think the score was going to be 70-7." They had to be ready, of course. If Syracuse had pulled off the unthinkable, Notre Dame was done. Any opportu- nity it had to make the College Football Playoff would be kaput. And that's a situation the Irish are more than used to by now. For the past two seasons, Notre Dame has exited its second game — a stunning upset loss to Northern Illinois in 2024 and a gut-wrenching loss to Texas A&M to fall to 0-2 in 2025 — knowing that if it dropped another, it would have no chance to accomplish its goals for the season. Notre Dame played 20 games with that reality hanging over its head, with its win over Stanford being the 20th. Remarkably, the Irish went 20-0. And they treated Stanford the same way they treated the rest of them. "This game Saturday is the Super Bowl," Freeman said the Monday before Notre Dame traveled to Palo Alto, Calif. "And it can't be lip service. Your actions have to follow that." The biggest key, Freeman explained, is only focusing on the game in front of you. That's what the Irish pledged to do each week, ironically beginning with Purdue in both seasons. The Irish couldn't win 10 games at once, so they didn't try to. "As you look back at something, you say, 'Man, you guys went on a run,'" Freeman said. "Or, 'You guys had a great season. You guys did some really good things.' But in the moment you're just so entrenched on this opportunity in front of you. I think that's what's important. That's enough pressure. "When you start thinking about this big picture and what's happening in an uncertain future, that's added pressure that you don't need." Taking every game seriously has also been huge, and that's a lesson Notre Dame learned against NIU. Famously, Freeman admitted at the time that the Irish didn't "handle success" after their Week 1 road win at Texas A&M and didn't treat the Huskies with the re- spect each opponent deserves. In response, Notre Dame is now tell- ing itself that a 3-7 Syracuse team, with a walk-on lacrosse player starting at quarterback, is capable of pushing it to its limit. Freeman didn't just say that, though. He and the Irish actually be- lieved it. "If our actions do follow that, I'm confident in terms of being prepared for the opportunity Saturday," Freeman said. "If it's lip service and we all don't commit to doing the things that it takes to improve and treat this game like it's the Super Bowl, then we've all been a part of what that outcome can be." Freeman remembers what that out- come felt like. It's harder for him to re- call what he felt at this time last year, when he was preparing for Southern Cal. However … "I'm sure it was the exact same way I feel now," Freeman said. No matter the opponent, the feeling stays the same. The motivation stays the same. The desperation stays the same. "That's what I told the players the other day," Freeman said. "Is your moti- vation to prepare the same as it was after Texas A&M? Like, what was your moti- vation on that Tuesday or Wednesday as you got ready for Arkansas? You've got to make sure that same eagerness to prepare is what we have right now as we get ready for Stanford, because you've got to let the things that happened in the past go." The Irish did that every single week. And that is a massive accomplishment, no matter who the games were against. Running the table is hard. Perfection is hard. As ESPN host Rece Davis likes to say, if you're not good enough, a loss will find you. Twenty games in, a loss never found Notre Dame. ✦ Table Run, Again Staff writer Jack Soble has covered Notre Dame athletics for Blue & Gold Illustrated since August 2023. Contact him at Jack.Soble@on3.com. OFF THE DOME JACK SOBLE Marcus Freeman has led Notre Dame to 20 straight victories in must-win regular-season games. PHOTO BY FRANK HYATT