How Marcus Freeman Channeled Lou Holtz to Lead Notre Dame to Victory at Texas A&M

If Marcus Freeman appeared confident Saturday night it's because he was

Aug 31, 2024; College Station, Texas, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman reacts in the fourth quarter against the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field. / Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports

You could tell from the second Notre Dame took the field Saturday night that Marcus Freeman felt good about his team's chances.

If you paid close attention to the team's grand entrance to Kyle Field before kickoff, you saw the third-year Notre Dame head coach point to the contingent of Notre Dame fans seated in the corner by the Irish tunnel.

It turns out Freeman was giving his team the final part of the gameplan, as where he pointed is where the team would celebrate its biggest road victory in a dozen years.

Marcus Freeman says he showed his players beforehand where the traveling Notre Dame fans were, so they knew where to go celebrate after they won. pic.twitter.com/r4QAW5Gm24

— Matt Fortuna (@Matt_Fortuna) September 1, 2024

What followed was a hard faught contest against one of the best defensive lines the nation has to offer.

Despite struggles for large chunks of Saturday night, Notre Dame followed Freeman's orders down to the very last one - celebrating with those Notre Dame fans that made the trip to College Station, Texas.

The move sounds like something straight out of Lou Holtz or Digger Phelps' books.

Holtz used to tell the team how a big game "didn't have to be close for TV" as a way to instill confidence. The night before the contest, Holtz had the entire Notre Dame team speak about the big plays they would make in the 1988 Catholics vs. Convicts upset of Miami before they went out and did exactly that a day later.

Phelps famously had his basketball team practice cutting down the nets to celebrate ending UCLA's famous winning streak before he got the Irish to do exactly that.

Freeman can celebrate this one in a huge way as Notre Dame now has everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, ahead for it in 2024.

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