Marcus Freeman's Top Week 1 Task: Getting Notre Dame Ready for the Moment

Will the Irish be ready to compete from the opening kickoff in College Station?

Louisville running back Jawhar Jordan scored on a 21 yard run in the fourth quarter as the Louisville Cardinals defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 33-20 on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023 / Jeff Faughender/Courier Journal and USA Today Network / USA TODAY NETWORK

Marcus Freeman must end this disturbing trend

Throughout Marcus Freeman's early tenure at Notre Dame, some trends have emerged. One of them is that Notre Dame has struggled in true road games and has not appeared ready to play from the opening kickoff with the same focus or intensity as its hosting opponents.

In 2023, the Irish slept-walked into the Louisville game and caught a back-breaking loss they deserved.

Similarly, Notre Dame showed up to Clemson's home field slow out of the gate and earned another ugly loss.

In many other road games, even games in which the Irish won, it took over a quarter to start playing well. This will not work against Texas A&M.

Notre Dame must be ready to play sound, physical football the entire game - especially from the start.

Final from Clemson, South Carolina.

NY6 Bowl hopes are gone… pic.twitter.com/C8yIGMOSBl

— Notre Dame Fighting Irish (@Insidetheirish) November 4, 2023

Notre Dame ... score fast, score often

Certainly, everyone in America can't wait to see how Notre Dame's players look on the field athletically. Is this team truly as deep as it's being talked about through fall camp? Is the defense going to be a truly elite unit? Will the combination of Riley Leonard, Mike Denbrock, and a revamped receiving group open up the offense?

But these are secondary concerns. The initial and more important concern has to do with this team's leader. Has Marcus Freeman been able to figure out and fix his team's road woes?

If things don't go well early on, will the Irish be able to adapt on the fly and recover? Irish playoff hopes depend on it.

Last year, Notre Dame outscored teams 83-43 in the first quarters, and then the O perked up scoring 144 in the second quarters of games.

Get that O going faster - especially against A&M - and look out.

Marcus Freeman won over the Irish locker room the moment he got the job.

Winning everything else has been harder as Notre Dame navigates a new world of the transfer portal, NIL and the 12-team College Football Playoff.

Can Freeman deliver?https://t.co/DI0iOf8Q0Z pic.twitter.com/lTArLENgUk

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) August 25, 2024

- Notre Dame vs Texas A&M: Key Concerns for the Irish

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