Marcus Freeman: history is no motivation
COVER PHOTO: Former OSU running back DeaMonte "Chip" Trayanum looks to the side judge to see if he crossed the goal line in their Sept. 23, 2023 game against Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. The touchdown would stand with one second left in the game to give the Buckeyes a 17-14 win. Photo by Mac Connor/Columbus Wired.
On Monday, Jan. 20, the 8th-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes will go head-to-head against the 7th-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish for the right to be called national champions.
It will be the ninth time the two schools will meet and the third time in the postseason. Both postseason games have gone the Buckeyes’ way, both coming in the Fiesta Bowl (2006 and 2016).
It will also be a rematch for the two, who played a regular season home-and-home matchup the previous two seasons. Ohio State won both games, besting the Irish 21-10 at home in 2022 and then scraping by with a last second touchdown last year to pull out a 17-14 victory in South Bend, Ind.
In fact, OSU bested ND in another regular season home-and-home series back in 1995 and ‘96. Those two games took place 60 years after the only other two times they played, which came in 1935 and ‘36.
Notre Dame won both of those games.
But it’s been nearly 90 years since the Golden Domers have claimed a win over the Scarlet and Gray and have since lost six in a row. Surely there has to be some sort of motivating factor to avenging the ghosts of the past, especially after the most recent two heartbreaking losses that Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman himself endured at the hands of the school he played his college ball for?
“This has nothing to do with the past and where I went to school,” Freeman said on Sunday. “This is about this opportunity that lies right ahead of us.”
The former Ohio State linebacker (2004 - ‘08) said it doesn’t matter what has happened in the past 29 years or even the past two. His focus is taking on an Ohio State team that has largely steamrolled their way into the championship.
Irish running back Jeremiyah Love seems to disagree with his head coach, considering what he said after their semifinal Orange Bowl win over Penn State.
“We want to play Ohio State,” he said during their post-game press conference. “We lost to them last year in a game we should have won…I want to play them again.”
Freeman countered Love’s sentiment on Sunday.
“If you need that to motivate you to get ready for this game, then you're not the right person. That's the reality of it. We don't need motivation to be prepared for this game.”
For the Irish (14-1), the season started out as a rollercoaster. After gutting it out on the road against 20th-rated Texas A&M and getting a go-ahead touchdown run from Love with under two minutes to go to give them a 20-13 lead, the Irish would ultimately win by 10.
However, the next week the upset bug bit them hard when they followed up the gritty win over the Aggies with a dumbfounding defeat at the hands of Northern Illinois in Notre Dame Stadium, 16-14. Huskies kicker Kanon Woodill hit a 35-yard field goal with 31 seconds to play and Irish kicker Mitch Jeter’s 62-yard attempt as time expired was blocked, preserving the win for NIU.
Since that loss on Sept. 7, it’s pretty much been smooth sailing for the Fighting Irish, ripping off 13 straight W’s while outscoring their opponents by an average of 23 points.
There were a couple of close calls on the way, though.
Leading by anywhere between 10 and 14 points throughout the second half, a visiting No. 15 Louisville pulled to within a touchdown late in the game. With under three minutes to play, the Cardinals got the ball back but were held to a fourth down desperation heave at midfield that safety Xavier Watts knocked down at the 10-yard line to propel the Irish to a 31-24 win.
Then there was the knee-knocking 27-24 victory last week against Penn State.
Trailing 10-0 with under three minutes to play in the first half, ND outscored PSU 27-14. Although, they needed an interception by cornerback Christian Gray with 33 seconds left in PSU territory to seal the win, which was done by Jeter on a 41-yard field goal with seven ticks left on the clock.
Love led the Irish with 46 rushing yards and one TD on 11 carries. Quarterback Riley Leonard went 15-of-23 passing for 223 yards with one TD and two interceptions while leading the team with 18 carries for a total of 35 yards and one rushing score.
The win sends Notre Dame back to the national championship game for the first time since 2012.
Freeman knows there are things they can learn from the trials, tribulations and ups-and-downs from the 2024 season that they glean and take into the natty game against the Buckeyes.
“If there's learning opportunities from other games or previous games, absolutely we're going to use them,” he said. “If that's going to help us be more prepared for what could happen in this game, we're definitely going to use it. But it isn't for motivation at all.”
Ultimately, it’s not about his past, his current team’s past or the fact this will be the first time in the nine-game history that the two will meet for all the marbles.
“We've got a chance to play in the National Championship game. This isn't about the past. This is about this opportunity we have right in front of us, and we'll continue to focus on this opportunity right in front of us.”
The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga. and will air on ESPN.