It was apparent in Marcus Freeman’s body language that the intense sideline conversation he was having with junior running back Audric Estimé and position coach Deland McCullough just before halftime Saturday wasn’t merely passing speculation about Pop-Tarts Bowl implications or nostalgic discourse about lightning-delay hotdogs.
It was actually about the future, specifically setting standards and expectations for it. That’s whether or not the 227-pound human wrecking ball and his main enabler — constantly in demand by college and NFL teams alike — are going to be a part of it
And that’s really what the lasting significance of No. 18 Notre Dame’s eventual 56-23 clobbering of Stanford at its half-ish-filled stadium (30,901) in Palo, Alto, Calif., has a chance to be — what it will lead to and what comes next?
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In the moment, though, the Notre Dame second-year head coach boiled over about what was originally ruled a lost fumble near the goal-line by backup running back Gi’Bran Payne in an uncomfortably tight 21-16 game at the time in favor of the Irish (9-3).
So, he took it to Estimé and McCullough while the replay officials took a second look.
“I’m one of the leaders of this team,” Estimé said of Freeman’s rationale. “I’m a leader of this offense. I’m the leader of the running back group. So when a guy like that fumbles the ball at the one-yard line, that’s a reflection of me. It’s a reflection of coach Deland.
“That’s just coach Freeman holding me and holding our running back group to high standards. You know, I love that. I appreciate that. It’s just great coaching. It’s something everyone needs to be to take your game to the next level.”
And the quest to continue to elevate Notre Dame’s game collectively will come in a bowl game, still most likely an SEC team — with Brian Kelly’s LSU Tigers and Tennessee two of the likelier opponents for a Jan. 1 date in Tampa, Fla., for the ReliaQuest Bowl.
The Pop-Tarts Bowl is also in play, with Oklahoma now the emerging potential Dec. 28 matchup in Orlando, though the Sooners were there last bowl season and may want to avoid a rerun of sorts.
For the record, replay reversed the decision to award Stanford the football on its 20-yard line via a touchback and instead ruled Payne had broken the plane of the goal line and scored a touchdown, giving the Irish a 28-16 command that would swell to 56-16 in the second half before Stanford’s reserves scored on ND’s late.
Not only did Estimé not fumble personally on a day when the Irish committed four that weren’t overturned by replay, he put up career highs in carries (25), touchdowns (4) and yards (238). The yardage was the fourth-highest in Notre Dame history and just 24 shy of Julius Jones’ 20-year-old school record.
As far as TDs, no Irish player has scored five in a game in more than 100 years, as in before Knute Rockne arrived at ND — as a player.
More of Estimé’s standing relative to history later, but Freeman admitted he was unaware the running back who signed with ND without ever having taken an official visit (because of the COVID-19 pandemic) was so close to Jones’ mark.
“If he came up and said, ‘Coach, can you leave me in, because I'm 24 yards away’ — that would be a decision I'd have to make,” Freeman said. “But there's two things I want to do, what's best for Notre Dame and what's best for Audric, too.”
Estimé himself hasn’t figured the latter out yet, he said, when it comes to whether Stanford will be the last opponent he faces as a collegian or in a bowl game or — least likely — next season.
“I don’t really have a [decision] timeline right now,” he said after the game. “I’m just worried about coming in on Monday, getting a lift in and going over this game, seeing how I could’ve done better. And then we’ll start having conversations then.”
Freeman has scads of them ahead of him between now and when bowl and playoff assignments are made public on Dec. 4. That’s also the same date the transfer portal opens for an expected 30-day onslaught of entries.
Included in those pending conversations is a 20-minute meeting with the media on Monday to fill in the few blanks that he can and/or is willing.
The most critical are the ones that have a chance to nudge the program away from some painful what-ifs that have pocked the mostly high points of the first two seasons of the Freeman regime. Historically, the third season of a Notre Dame head coach’s tenure has been consistently and curiously prescient in how that particular coach’s tenure is ultimately remembered.
Saturday’s game against a Stanford team (3-9) that never won on its home turf all season put on display the best and the worst Notre Dame has to offer heading into the pivotal 2024 season, which also happens to be the first one to include a 12-team playoff format.
The Irish offset four turnovers — a lost fumble and interception by Sam Hartman on offense and later a pick by backup QB Steve Angeli on his only pass attempt of the game — by going 7-of-9 on third-down conversions and 1-of-1 on fourth down.
Embattled offensive coordinator Gerad Parker’s until stuck for 521 total yards, 381 of those on the ground — the highest total since the Brandon Wimbush/Josh Adams crew ran for 515 in a road game at Boston College.
Hartman only attempted 14 passes against the fourth-worst pass-efficiency defense among the 130 FBS schools and completed eight for and touchdown passes to freshmen Jordan Faison and Jaden Greathouse.
His 174 pass-efficiency grade for the game put him within range of overtaking Jimmy Clausen and Bob Williams for the single-season school record in a bowl game should he elect to participate.
Defensively, the Al Golden’s sixth-ranked defense was put in tough positions with the turnovers and was gouged on a couple of long gains, but more than held its own, all things considered. Linebacker Jack Kiser had a momentum-changing interception. Four players contributed to the four sacks the Irish accrued and seven players accounted for the seven QB hurries.
Stanford coach Troy Taylor after the game called it “probably the best defense we've played all year.”
Meanwhile, Irish sophomore Jadarian Price fumbled a kickoff return on special teams, but reserve defensive lineman Jason Onye blocked a field goal attempt, and defensive end Javontae Jean-Baptiste returned it 60 yards for a touchdown.
“Growing up I used to play a little running back,” he said, “so I know when I get the ball in my hands what to do with it if I get the opportunity. So it was fun.”
No one seemed to have more fun the Estimé, though, even with the sideline scolding included and captured by the Pac-12 Network cameras but unacknowledged by the announcing crew.
He jumped from 14th to fifth on the Notre Dame all-time single-season rushing list with now 1,341 yards. That’s two short of Reggie Brooks in fourth place and less than 100 yards away from Vagas Ferguson’s 44-year-old school record of 1,437.
He’s 11th on the career rushing yardage list (2,321), 20 yards away from the legendary George Gipp. And he is now the record-holder for rushing TDs in a season at ND, with 18.
All fueled in part by a snub from the Doak Walker Award voters, who omitted Estimé from their list of 10 semifinalists earlier in the week.
“I definitely feel like I’m one of the best running backs in the country, if not the best,” he said. “I definitely want other people to notice, but after today, I feel like a lot of people will notice.”
Marcus Freeman, meanwhile, gushed about getting the Legends Trophy back, a concept that’s probably not as universal with the fan base as he might have estimated, but it’s a trophy, nevertheless.
The bigger prizes in the bigger picture lie ahead, in putting the finishing touches on a top 10 recruiting class, making the right decisions where the transfer portal is concerned, re-recruiting some key pieces of his own roster, dealing with coaching staff churn and whether to initiate any.
And how to raise the standard of his own performance.
"We're chasing our full potential,” he said, himself included. “That's something you'll hear me say. We haven't totally got there, but, dang, we were pretty close today.”
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