Notre Dame Football

Column: After loss to Marshall, Notre Dame Faces Uphill Battle Toward Adequacy in 2022

By Andrew Mentock

September 11, 2022

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Had Brian Kelly stayed in South Bend, it’s hard to imagine Notre Dame losing to Marshall at home on Saturday, Sept. 10.

He possessed a flair for meeting moderately high expectations on an annual basis.

Sure, his teams might lay an egg against the college football elite, just like Notre Dame did against Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson on neutral sites.

But in his final five seasons at Notre Dame, Kelly mastered the art of beating the inferior opponent. During that time, Kelly won 42 straight games against unranked teams.

It’s his ability to win those games that allowed him to rack up five straight 10-win seasons.

Now, Kelly’s victories were ugly at times. Last September, Notre Dame needed a fourth-quarter comeback to defeat Toldeo 32-29 — a team likely worse than the 2022 Marshall squad — but the point is the Irish still walked away victorious.

Of course, Kelly is no longer in South Bend after he bolted last December for a nine-figure salary in Baton Rouge and spurned the Fighting Irish fanbase.

Notre Dame, instead, just fell to Marshall at home, 26-21, and is now 0-2 to kick off the first full season of the Marcus Freeman era.

Going forward in 2022, Freeman has almost no room for error in order to reach the 10-win minimum threshold Kelly set.

The Irish still have three current AP top-25 opponents left on its schedule: No. 21 BYU, No. 10 USC and No. 5 Clemson. It’s difficult to see Notre Dame heading into any of those matchups as the favorite.

What’s more difficult than Notre Dame’s remaining schedule is trying to figure out where the Irish go from here.

It’s easy to point to the struggles on the offensive line, poor tackling or missed downfield throws. Anyone can do that, but how Notre Dame fixes a plethora of issues mid-season is a much greater curiosity, especially when the Irish coaching staff felt it came into Saturday well prepared after a good week of practice and with a solid game plan.

“We felt it was a good week of preparation, but it didn't roll over the game,” Freeman said. “Let's go look at our preparation and see where we can enhance the way we prepare to make sure we're finding a better way to execute.

"I wish there was that one thing - if we did this, then bam, it would happen in the game.”

Freeman’s current reality is that there are no easy fixes. It’s not just a matter of coaching harder or dedicating more time to the film room.

Notre Dame is already struggling in the areas the coaching staff emphasizes on a daily basis. For instance, in two games the Irish defense has yet to force a turnover.

"Above everything else, honestly, I think we're more upset about that,” said Notre Dame defensive lineman Howard Cross III. “Because we preach takeaways, takeaways, takeaways."

Outside of Notre Dame’s specialists, every offensive and the defensive unit has looked pedestrian for spurts in 2022 and some more often than others.

I could hammer Notre Dame for its offensive game plan or for playing too many freshmen cornerbacks or for a number of other miscues from Saturday’s disappointing loss at home, but I’ll leave such criticisms to significantly more qualified football minds (especially ISD’s Jamie Uyeyama and Greg Flammang).

I’m more interested in trying to uncover the day-to-day changes Notre Dame makes as the program attempts to rebound from its most embarrassing loss since the 4-8 season in 2016.

A Blue Chip Head Coach

Kelly may be public enemy No. 1 in South Bend.

But as someone who was born and raised in this town, I can say with certainty that there’s nothing Notre Dame fans hate than watching someone they deem a loser coach their favorite team.

No matter how embarrassing the loss to Marshall was, it's far too early to label Freeman a bust or state that Jack Swarbrick’s latest hire has already blown up in his face.

Dabo Swinney was in his late 30s in his first full season as a head coach in 2009, and Clemson went 9-5. The next year, the Tigers dropped to 6-7, ending the season with a 31-26 loss to USF in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

It’s more than a decade later, and Clemson has won at least 10 games under Swinney every season since. During that span, they’ve also garnered two National Championships and six college football playoff appearances.

Am I certain Freeman is on a similar trajectory? Of course not. But he sure seems like the type of coach you hire if you hope to get there. He’s charismatic, possesses a brilliant defensive mind and grinds on the recruiting trail. He’s also very thoughtful and intentional in everything he does.

As far as head coaching candidates, he was a blue chip prospect, but not every five-star recruit hits.

For now, it's clear that the program is going to have to endure growing pains while Freeman figures out how to excel at priority No. 1 as a head coach: winning football games.

During his first nine months on the job, it was easy for Freeman to preach humility and a growth mindset. Everybody loved him.

We all knew we’d have to see Freeman face significant diversity at some point during his Notre Dame tenure, it’s just coming a bit earlier than any of us expected.

“Everybody watches how you act when things are tough,” Freeman said. “When things are good, it's easy, man. Everybody's happy. It's easy to be a leader when everything's going well. When things are going not so well is when the character and leadership will show."

Now, we’ll get to see Freeman’s response and how his team rallies around him, even when he’s no longer the “it” coach of the moment.

Will Notre Dame return back to playing the level of football required to win 10 games a season any time soon?

Who the hell knows, but if Freeman can figure it out, he still has the intangibles required to reach heights greater than his predecessor ever did in South Bend.

But after Notre Dame’s 0-2 start, it's impossible to ignore Kelly’s most overused yet accurate slogan: “winning is hard.”