Sorry, but the cat is out of the bag. For all the hand wringing about the QB position, the WR room, Tommy Rees and every other excuse in the book. By ND going on the road and basically beating the balls off of 2 ranked opponents and playing #2 OSU to a virtual standstill in Columbus.
It is very clear that MF inherited a deep and talented football team, not perfect, but certainly worthy of its pre-season ranking, of the 8 opponents so far, the only opponent who has had a superior roster was Ohio State.
The CFP rankings come out this week, and for the first time, in several years ND will not be mentioned upon the contenders for a CFP spot. Why? Because this talented football team was unprepared to play against Marshall and Stanford. That is a reflection on the Head Coach and were part of the "growing pains" Jack Swarbrick mentioned when he hired a coach with no prior head coaching experience.
This is a HUGE game for Marcus Freeman, it is a litmus test to see if he is figuring out this job. Look, we have seen ND beat Syracuse before, we have seen ND go on the road and beat ranked UNC in 2020. That is shooting PAR for a program with this much talent.
This Clemson game is a must win for Marcus, if he wins ND sits at 6-3, with 2 easy wins on the schedule, assuming Marcus learned his lessons from the Marshall and Stanford embarrassment. ND at that point would walk into the LA Coliseum 8-3, nationally ranked, and play a USC team, that is softer than fresh squeezed Charmin.
The ND offense at this point is a glorified Wishbone attack, the only difference is the backs are not on the field at the same time and lined up in the bone, Other than that, it is grind away, Inside Zone, Duo, Wedge, and chuck a few balls down the field to Mayer and Co. A well-prepared ND team should go into the Coliseum and run the ball at will. Go YouTube the 1992 ND vs USC game and that is EXACTLY what this year's game should look like.
ND IMO is equal to Clemson, who also has an unsettled QB position, ND's job this week is run "The Freeman Bone" vs Clemson, give QB-1 some really easy throws, and the defense needs to create a QB controversy for Clemson again this week.
However, If ND comes up short this week, ND will be 5-4 this season, Marcus will be 5-5 as a Head Coach, and ND will have lost more football games at home this season, than they lost in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 combined. This is a HUGE game for Marcus Freeman
It is very clear that MF inherited a deep and talented football team, not perfect, but certainly worthy of its pre-season ranking, of the 8 opponents so far, the only opponent who has had a superior roster was Ohio State.
The CFP rankings come out this week, and for the first time, in several years ND will not be mentioned upon the contenders for a CFP spot. Why? Because this talented football team was unprepared to play against Marshall and Stanford. That is a reflection on the Head Coach and were part of the "growing pains" Jack Swarbrick mentioned when he hired a coach with no prior head coaching experience.
This is a HUGE game for Marcus Freeman, it is a litmus test to see if he is figuring out this job. Look, we have seen ND beat Syracuse before, we have seen ND go on the road and beat ranked UNC in 2020. That is shooting PAR for a program with this much talent.
This Clemson game is a must win for Marcus, if he wins ND sits at 6-3, with 2 easy wins on the schedule, assuming Marcus learned his lessons from the Marshall and Stanford embarrassment. ND at that point would walk into the LA Coliseum 8-3, nationally ranked, and play a USC team, that is softer than fresh squeezed Charmin.
The ND offense at this point is a glorified Wishbone attack, the only difference is the backs are not on the field at the same time and lined up in the bone, Other than that, it is grind away, Inside Zone, Duo, Wedge, and chuck a few balls down the field to Mayer and Co. A well-prepared ND team should go into the Coliseum and run the ball at will. Go YouTube the 1992 ND vs USC game and that is EXACTLY what this year's game should look like.
ND IMO is equal to Clemson, who also has an unsettled QB position, ND's job this week is run "The Freeman Bone" vs Clemson, give QB-1 some really easy throws, and the defense needs to create a QB controversy for Clemson again this week.
However, If ND comes up short this week, ND will be 5-4 this season, Marcus will be 5-5 as a Head Coach, and ND will have lost more football games at home this season, than they lost in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 combined. This is a HUGE game for Marcus Freeman