How will Notre Dame, Marcus Freeman respond to CFP title game loss? Final thoughts

SOUTH BEND, Ind.

Nine final thoughts on Notre Dame going out (almost) on top after its 34-23 loss to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.

1.

Sports are nothing if not a vehicle to make memories.

And in my 24 years on the Notre Dame football beat, no Irish team created more for the fan base than this one.

Covering a run through the Playoff was to know you were documenting a team Notre Dame fans will be talking about for decades.

The Georgia and Penn State games.

The first home game in the CFP.

That Jeremiyah Love touchdown.

That other Love touchdown.

The national title game that whipsawed from this is happening to not again to wait, this might be happening? The wins at Texas A&M and USC .

Notre Dame announcing itself as a national player but in a durable way.

Advertisement For a generation of Notre Dame fans, basically anybody younger than 40 years old, Marcus Freemans third season will be your favorite Notre Dame team of all time (for now).

There wasnt a Brady Quinn or a Manti Teo on this roster.

There were no transcendental players.

But until the Irish win it all, this team will stand above the rest, at least since the last time Notre Dame went all the way.

2.

Thats 36 years between national championships, the longest gap in program history.

And yet, for the first time since that gap began to open, Notre Dame has an honest chance to go all the way.

3.

This is where its worth remembering (and appreciating) how hard it will be to finish the job.

Ohio State went 10 years between national championships.

Michigan waited 26 years.

Georgia waited for 41 before going back-to-back.

Theres no guarantee Notre Dame will win it all under Freeman.

It just feels like hes going to keep knocking on the door.

The sport has changed in Notre Dames favor with the transfer portal and name, image and likeness, two things that easily could have worked against the Irish if handled differently.

Instead, Notre Dame leaned in.

Yes, the 12-team CFP should make it harder to win a national title.

But thats as true for Notre Dame as it is for Ohio State, Penn State, Texas and Georgia.

4.

Notre Dames path to upsetting Ohio State was narrow.

Notre Dame knew it.

Ohio State knew it.

What gave the Irish confidence they could walk that path was the fact they had done so over and over and over again.

Run the ball.

Play great defense.

Create an explosive play on special teams.

Do all three, and Notre Dame had a chance.

The Irish barely did one.

Ohio State outrushing Notre Dame 214-53 all but took a national championship off the table.

Seven combined carries by Love and Jadarian Price totaled 16 yards.

There were no double-digit gains on the ground, a first all season.

The response shouldnt be getting more efficient at the narrow path Notre Dame mastered this season.

It has to be widening the path.

With a new quarterback and potentially loaded offensive line, Mike Denbrock should be able to pull that off.

GO DEEPER Where do Notre Dame, Marcus Freeman go after loss to Ohio State? 5.

Its hard to overstate the importance of Jaden Greathouse s stat line against Ohio State and Penn State for next season.

In total, 13 catches, 233 yards, three touchdowns.

Thats after posting six catches for 49 yards in the previous five games combined.

Postgame, Freeman pushed back on the idea that Greathouses production was any kind of breakout, insisting the sophomore has delivered in other ways.

And maybe thats true.

But Notre Dame doesnt need a great blocking slot receiver.

It needs one that can carve open a defense.

Advertisement It has one in Greathouse.

In the preseason, Denbrock agreed with my sentiment that Notre Dame had a half dozen No.

2 receivers but no true No.

1.

Although he inserted a caveat that Greathouse might become WR1.

Now he has.

Maybe it took longer than Greathouse wanted to get here, but Steve Angeli or CJ Carr will reap these rewards next fall.

6.

Riley Leonard went out at Notre Dame with his best game of the season.

Yes, it felt like Leonard missed a few throws overshooting Beaux Collins on a crossing route to start Notre Dames second drive hurt but the game plan to (smartly) run Leonard into the ground probably played a part.

It was hard to be pinpoint accurate after nine rushing attempts on that meat grinder of an opening touchdown drive.

Leonard completed 22-of-31 passes for a season-high 255 yards and two touchdowns against one of the best defenses in college football.

He didnt turn the ball over.

He converted three third downs and two fourth downs with his legs.

This was the best of Leonard in the biggest moment.

He took Notre Dame as far as he could.

7.

Notre Dames bridge too far against Ohio State was its pass rush.

No Rylie Mills , Boubacar Traore or Jordan Botelho with a limited Howard Cross turned into a game-plan killer for Al Golden.

The Irish got virtually no pressure on Will Howard , and RJ Oben got flagged for a personal foul on one of the few times Notre Dame did.

Pro Football Focus credited Notre Dame with just eight quarterback pressures against Ohio State PFF will credit multiple pressures on a single play which was one off the season-low seven against Northern Illinois .

Thats an incredible drop in quarterback pressures from Notre Dames other big games against Texas A&M (17), Georgia (23), Penn State (12) and Louisville (27).

The Irish werent going to be able to defend Ohio States receivers with the secondary alone.

They needed the defensive line to help the cause.

It didnt, at least not enough.

Advertisement 8.

Golden leaves Notre Dames defense better than he found it.

And thats saying something after Mike Elko, Clark Lea and Freeman preceded him in the job.

When he showed up, there was concern that his NFL schemes wouldnt work at the college level, a la Brian VanGorder.

Instead, Golden rates among the best defensive coordinators in program history.

GO DEEPER Bengals to hire Notre Dame's Al Golden as defensive coordinator: Source How Freeman replaces Golden will rate among the toughest decisions of his tenure.

And the reputation of this job should be enough to land an experienced defensive coordinator if Freeman wants to go that way.

9.

Im not sure when Freeman will meet with reporters again or what utility hell find in unpacking what happened against Ohio State.

But I wouldnt expect Freeman to accept many pats on the back around campus for making it to Atlanta and falling short.

Notre Dames coach is manically competitive.

That might sound like a prerequisite for the job, but it isnt always.

So, did Freeman leave the game thinking the roster needs to improve or thinking how it has managed has to get better? He regularly talks about reaching our full potential as the barometer of success.

And it feels like Notre Dame did that, even if it hardly played a perfect game against the Buckeyes.

That leaves the roster.

And how Freeman turns the screw in recruiting may be the biggest job for Notre Dame to do if it wants to lift the trophy eventually.

Everything else feels in place.

(Top photo: Rich von Biberstein / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images).

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