‘We Have To Move Forward’: Notre Dame Turning Page Following Georgia Win
Notre Dame has heard a lot of noise this year. For most of the season it was negative noise, with the loss to NIU defining this team in the eyes of much of the country. But now after the program’s biggest win in over 30 years — everyone loves the Irish again.
It’s different for this group as for the better part of four months everyone was saying they’ll never be able to compete with the likes of Georgia, all because of one bad afternoon in September. Now that everyone sees what this team is capable of, it has to be hard not to turn on ESPN and hear about how awesome you are.
“It’s probably louder this week than it's ever been,” Freeman said. “I think it's human nature to enjoy people saying good things about you. It's human nature.
But to Marcus Freeman and his group, it’s noise all the same, and they’re going to keep blocking it out.
“We’re making sure that we're ready for this opportunity in front of us,” Freeman said. “If you don’t prepare the right way, the reality is that that moment on Thursday will be our last great moment, and nobody wants that.”
Freeman’s right, if the Irish spend too much time basking in the glory Thursday’s Sugar Bowl brought, then they’ll probably get popped by Penn State on Jan. 9 in the CFP Semifinals. Fortunately that doesn’t seem to be the case as Freeman and his staff turned their attention to the Nittany Lions as soon as they got on the plane in New Orleans.
“It's a very talented and disciplined, tough football team, very creative offense that utilizes a bunch of different personnels, a bunch of different formations,” Freeman said. “It's going to force you to be extremely disciplined in terms of your eyes and your adjustments in terms of defensive football.”
It also has to help that Freeman has a group of captains that are just as ready to move on than he is.
“I met with the captains last night about the plan for this week, and I couldn't even get it out of my mouth before they said, ‘Coach, we have to move forward. We have to move forward. If we didn't listen to this noise before. Now, why are we changing?’” Freeman said.
“They are truly an extension of me and in that locker room. It's great when you have players leading your program.”
Blocking out the noise was one of the key factors in Notre Dame making the run that it is on right now. The Irish got lost in their work, focused on the single opponent that laid in front of them. One play, one life. That’s the same mindset they appear to have now.
“You have to make the choice to either waste time listening to people tell you how good you are, what the past has been or you're going to put your time into preparing for this opportunity right in front of us,” Freeman said. “And that's been my message loud and clear, and we all have to make that choice.”
That said, it’s not a bad thing to think about the future and what lies ahead — it should provide motivation for the opportunity at hand. It’s OK to think about being the first Notre Dame team to win a national championship in 36 years — but only for a second.
“It's not the initial thought of daydreaming about the past or an uncertain future,” Freeman said. “It's the second thought that as soon as you start thinking about the past or what somebody's saying about your future, that's, it's uncertain, get back in the moment and put the work in that it takes to get the outcome that you want.
“Don't dream about the outcome, put the work in the minute you start dreaming about the outcome. Put the work in that it takes to get that and that's a personal challenge for everybody in our program.”
So as dreams of immortality may try to fill the heads of the Irish, Freeman wants them to stay centered, and he has full faith that they will.
“Stay in the moment, win the moment, and the only way to win a moment is to be in the moment, and that's what's important,” Freeman said.
“Unpredictable things in life will determine success. So the greatest thing about this week is, like, it's just a normal game week. So we got to make sure we utilize every hour of the day to capitalize off of the preparation, but for us, it's not a new routine. This is just game week.”
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