Living in Chicagoland since birth, I’ve been told my entire life that if I didn’t like the weather, just wait 15 minutes and it’ll change. I won’t say an outlook for a college football program changes quite as quickly but it’s not too far off. The belief that was restored in the [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] era at Notre Dame after the Irish knocked Clemson around Saturday night was a feeling Irish fans haven’t had in a long time.
Correction: a very long time.
After the 0-2 start to 2022 and the embarrassing home loss to Marshall, there was fear that Freeman was on his way to being the next [autotag]Bob Davie[/autotag]. Perhaps it was a bit strong but only having three losses (Fiesta Bowl vs. Oklahoma State, too) to judge off of and very few of those being games being positive, it didn’t feel good.
Fast forward to Saturday night and a 35-14 win over No. 4 Clemson that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated, and there is instead another former defensive coordinator turned first-time head coach I’m seeing Freeman follow the path of:
National champion Georgia head coach Kirby Smart.