SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The next steps Marcus Freeman takes matter more than the abject pain, more than the ugly what-ifs still wafting through Notre Dame Stadium after midnight, following a missed opportunity by his ninth-ranked Irish football team on Saturday night.
Given the hyperbolic crescendo that preceded the 497th game in the history of the house that Rockne built — including College GameDay and all that comes with the ESPN traveling circus — Notre Dame was due for some kind of hangover, even if it could have rewritten the ending of its 17-14 loss to No. 6 Ohio State to match the build-up.
What should keep the second-year ND head coach up at night is how to build on it. Yep, build.
As inexplicable/inexcusable as playing the final two defensive plays for the Irish (4-1) a man down was, including the go-ahead touchdown with 1 second left. As frustrating as failing on two fourth-and-shorts and pulling a 47-yard field goal attempt, that had plenty of distance, off target.
As unsuccessful as the Notre Dame pass rush was at flustering Ohio State first-year starting QB Kyle McCord, the Freeman teams in Top 10 matchups continue to avoid something the Brian Kelly Irish teams too often did on the college football’s biggest stages.
Looking like they don’t belong.
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“It hurts because we didn't play at our best,” Freeman said. “I keep saying it. It's not about them as much as it is about us and playing to our full potential. And that's what we're chasing, and that's why I'm disappointed.
“Because if we would have a couple more plays, the result would have been different. But we didn't. And so, it's not that we gave the game away. It's just that we didn't reach our full potential. That's the disappointing part.”
They still can. Now what that might lead in the context of this season, specifically the postseason, is no longer under their control.
There are opportunities to climb back into the College Football Playoff discussion, starting next weekend on the road at Duke in a battle of former Kelly defensive coordinators. The Blue Devils, under second-year head coach Mike Elko, are shooting for their first 5-0 start in nearly three decades.
And ESPN’s GameDay’s presence next Saturday in Durham, puts an even bigger spotlight on things.
What is under Notre Dame’s control is still making the most of Wake Forest transfer Sam Hartman’s one-year layover in South Bend and the investment he’s made in leaving Notre Dame better off than the program he walked into in January.
And it’s not just on game day. And not just ramifications that only resonate this season.
Do the Irish actually land 2025 four-star QB Deuce Knight earlier this week — the nation’s No. 26 overall prospect per Rivals, and No. 1 dual-threat quarterback — if someone other than Hartman is the centerpiece of first-year coordinator Gerad Parker’s offense?
Knight happened to be among the sell-out crowd of 77,622 that also included many uncommitted top prospects from the 2025 class, 2024 four-star QB commit CJ Carr, former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Brown, and members of the 1988 national championship team and 86-year-old coach Lou Holtz.
Hartman, the 24-year-old former three-star prospect and portal prize, showed more poise than panache on Saturday night against a Buckeye defense that had strung together its best three-game stretch to start a season in 48 years.
His 140 pass-efficiency rating was respectable, but, by far, a season-low for the nation’s No. 3 QB in that statistical category. That translated to 17-for-25 for 175 yards, but no interceptions, no fumbles, no sacks. Seven of his completions went to junior tight end Mitchell Evans, who missed last week’s 41-17 win over Central Michigan with a concussion.
Five more went to freshman wide receivers Rico Flores Jr. and Jaden Greathouse. It was Flores’ two-yard TD reception, capping a 96-yard drive, midway through the fourth quarter that helped Notre Dame rally from a 10-0 deficit.
Which was followed by a brilliant red zone stand by the Irish defense and former Ohio State defensive end Javontae Jean-Baptiste that gave the Irish the ball with 4:12 left and a 14-10 lead.
The Buckeyes, though, forced a punt and took possession at their own 35 with 86 seconds left. McCord, the nation’s No. 12 QB in pass efficiency, concocted a 111.2 rating against Notre Dame’s nation’s-best pass-efficiency defense.
But on Ohio State’s final drive, he converted a third-and-10 from the Buckeye 35, a fourth-and-7 from the Irish 39-yard line with 51 seconds left and a third-and-19 from the Irish 22 following an intentional grounding penalty.
That gave OSU the ball at the 1 with seven seconds left. Following a Notre Dame timeout, its final one of the half, the Irish sent 10 defenders onto the field.
“We were trying to get a fourth D-lineman on the field,” Freeman said, “and I told him just stay off, because we can't afford a penalty. I didn't have any timeouts, so we couldn't afford a penalty there. Yeah, it's on us. We’ve got to be better.”
And yet when Ohio State substituted after an incomplete pass left three seconds on the clock, the Irish could have rectified the situation but did not. And 230-pound converted linebacker Chip Trayanum punched through the Irish three-man defensive line for the winning score.
“Everything was going fast,” Irish nickel Thomas Harper said. “I'm trying to do my job, get the call. We’ve got to do better, players and coaches. We're going to learn from that and grow.”
And that’s where Freeman needs to lean into Hartman, who’s overcome injuries, doubters and personal tragedy to put Irish in position to help him reach his dreams, and theirs as well.
“I'm sure later in the week we can find something,” he said. “But right now, it's pretty low, pretty dark. But that's college football. You know, it's life. Got to bounce back. That's what we'll do. We're Notre Dame.”
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