Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman Is About to Make History, But With a Caveat

Freeman is about to match a Notre Dame legend's record

Aug 31, 2024; College Station, Texas, USA; Chris Fowler a broadcaster for ESPN, left, speaks with Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman prior to the game against the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images / Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

Marcus Freeman is closing in on a Notre Dame legend's record

Marcus Freeman's early Notre Dame tenure has been a rocky road at times with lots of highs and a few lows.

His Irish teams have been consistently inconsistent, but ...

As Freeman sits almost halfway through Year Three of his tenure, he is approaching an impressive record held by a Notre Dame legend.

Freeman has amassed nine ranked wins so far through his first 2.5 seasons as the head man, second to only Frank Leahy who amassed ten such victories in his first 3 seasons. This is certainly some heavy company.

Wins against Top 25 teams as Notre Dame HC:

Marcus Freeman in his first 2.5 years: 9

Brian Kelly in his first 5 year: 9
Brian Kelly in his last 4 years: 8

— College Football Watcher (@CFBWatcher) October 1, 2024

Notre Dame has not been able to maximize these victories

While this record is impressive and would undoubtedly make Leahy himself proud, Notre Dame has not seen a big benefit from all of these wins regarding their overall season outcomes.

Why is this? Notre Dame and Freeman have an issue winning "lower" level games that continue to plague the program.

Due to inexplicable losses to teams like Marshall, Stanford, or Northern Illinois, it's been impossible to leverage the ranked wins for overall season success. This is a very frustrating and confounding situation as it seems Notre Dame prepares and plays better against better teams than worse teams.

If Marcus Freeman can find a way to win all the games he's supposed to, he has a chance to deliver truly high-level full-season results.

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