Marcus Freeman Notre Dame Teams Bounce Back, But There's A Catch

In 2022, Notre Dame lost home games to lowly Marshall and Stanford before rising up to hammer number four Clemson 41-24.

In 2023, the Irish overcame a heartbreaking last-second defeat to Ohio State by outlasting Duke on the road 21-14 when the team was emotionally and physically drained from the Buckeye battle. And let's not forget about Notre Dame's 13-game winning streak after an unthinkable home loss to NIU.

The fact that Marcus Freeman has displayed the ability to keep his teams motivated and in the proper mindset to bounce back after tough defeats is admirable, but there is a catch to this phenomenon that must be addressed.

The next step Notre Dame must take to become and stay elite

While Irish fans love the fact that Freeman is a bounce-back master, let's zoom out and take a bigger look at this dynamic. If Notre Dame wishes to remain in the top tier of the college football landscape and become a perennial CFP contender, the Irish need to stop needing to bounce back.

College football features the shortest regular season in any major sport, which means that each game matters and matters a lot, especially for Notre Dame as an Independent.

The Irish cannot expect to have 10-plus game-winning streaks to overcome early-season losses each season. This dynamic simply applies too much pressure on the program to be perfect in a "back against the CFP wall" situation.

I know it's much easier said than done, but this program must find a way to not need to bounce back every season in order to reach its goals.

This doesn't mean the Irish need to be perfect, but it does mean that the program must find a way to reach the second half of its schedule in a comfortable CFP position, something that is hard to do with early-season losses.

The only thing better than being a good "bounce back" team is being so good that bounce-backs aren't needed. This is the next step for Freeman & his growing program.

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