ATLANTA — Notre Dame is outraged. Notre Dame is very angry. Notre Dame wants the media to leave the locker room. Actually, Notre Dame wants the press to get the [expletive] out.
Forty minutes have passed, give or take, since Ohio State’s 34-23 victory in Monday night’s College Football Playoff national championship game, and the Fighting Irish — angry, loud, and emotional — are working through some issues.
Thing one: This was a game that they should have won.
“I think we came out and beat ourselves,” said sophomore wide receiver Jordan Faison.
According to sophomore receiver Jaden Greathouse, who had a game-high 128 receiving yards, “We were just making a lot of mistakes that we normally don’t make.” And when you play another good team, you will get the same result.”
Thing two: they are motivated.
“The statement that we put out there is that we’re a dog team,” Faison told the crowd. “This team is made up entirely of dogs. We give it our all, fight to the limit, and will undoubtedly put this to use next year. It would be a waste if we did not use this next year as motivation.
And, most importantly, this program is on the verge of winning a national championship, making the program’s first title since 1988 a matter of when, not if.
Notre Dame linebacker Drayk Bowen (34) is consoled on the bench following the Fighting Irish’s loss to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“I have said it before and will say it again. We sent shockwaves through the college. “We sent shockwaves,” senior defensive tackle Howard Cross III stated.
“Prior to this, it was what we couldn’t do. Now, after this year, I’m really curious about what Notre Dame can accomplish. Who can we play against? Who can stop us? The ground has changed forever. Because before, going to a playoff game meant hoping they’d win.
Re-ranking: Ohio State leads the final NCAA 1-134 after winning the national championship.
There are two ways to interpret this type of braggadocio, which is not an uncommon first reaction in losing locker rooms after falling one win short of the championship. Nine years ago, after losing to Alabama, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney stated that his program had been given a glimpse of college football’s mountaintop, and that experience fueled his belief that the Tigers would eventually reach the summit. One year later, they did exactly that.
Notre Dame has shown enough growth since a shocking loss to Northern Illinois in September to justify the team’s belief that the national championship will return to South Bend as soon as next season.
Previous trips to the championship game were also cut short, but under vastly different circumstances and with a significantly different vibe heading into the offseason.
In early 2013, a blowout loss to Alabama demonstrated the enormous gap that still exists between the Irish and the top teams in the Bowl Subdivision, particularly the best teams in the SEC. And that gap never closed during two subsequent playoff appearances under former coach Brian Kelly, which included a 30-3 loss to Clemson in 2018 and a 31-14 loss to the Crimson Tide in 2020.
This postseason demonstrated that the gap had been narrowed. The Fighting Irish had no trouble handling Indiana in the first round. They then defeated Georgia 23-10, smothering the Bulldogs on the line of scrimmage for a message-sending victory over the SEC champion. Notre Dame then defeated Penn State 27-24 in the Orange Bowl to reach Monday night.
“We’ve been winning games, you know what I mean,” Cross told the crowd. “We defeated the SEC champions. We went on a three-game playoff run.
However, something is still missing, making Notre Dame’s confidence appear somewhat misguided in the aftermath of a loss that demonstrated the importance of accumulating the greatest amount of offensive skill talent within an eclectic strategy.
On the game’s first possession, the offense sent an early message with an 18-play touchdown drive that demonstrated the physicality that has come to define the offense and the program as a whole. However, as the game progressed, Ohio State’s explosiveness demonstrated how this more plodding style leaves Notre Dame with far less room for error — the Irish needed to be perfect, which they were not.
But even the most ardent Notre Dame skeptic must admit that Freeman appears to have steered the program into a more serious contender. Part of that stems from his ability to deal with adversity: following the loss to Northern Illinois, the Irish relied on his steady hand to stay in contention for the playoffs and a national championship.
He’s still learning on the job three years into his full-time coaching career, and the decision to go for a field goal instead of a fourth-down conversion when trailing 31-15 in the fourth quarter — the 27-yard attempt was missed — exemplifies Freeman’s need to improve his game management skills.
Freeman and the Irish appear to be learning on the job, much like Swinney and Clemson did nearly a decade ago. An angry and hurt program appears to be following the same script: Notre Dame believes next year will be the year, which you can’t help but take seriously.
“It’s the first time for everybody,” Cross said. “This is uncharted territory.” I’m confident we’ll know what to do next year. I’m not concerned. The team is in excellent hands for next year.”