ATLANTA — Marcus Freeman was the last to leave the field, heading toward the southeast tunnel of Mercedes-Benz Stadium with his right index finger held aloft. The Irish coach had no intention of letting it be known that his program was No. 1. Because that’s not the case. he knows it.
Beating Georgia Tech with a backup quarterback was hardly an exaggeration. But while Notre Dame deserves credit for doing a decent job against the Yellow Jackets and winning 31-13, it probably won’t be remembered as much in December.
that’s ok. Boredom is a good thing. Boredom wins.
The biggest compliment Freeman got Saturday was that watching him beat Georgia Tech into submission felt like something out of the Irish coach’s last coach’s playbook. This all felt a little Brian Kelly-like, which is a nod to the situation Freeman has with the program after a shaky start to this season.
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Notre Dame felt as expected except for special teams. I played in 3rd gear. We won against the ACC team we were supposed to beat. I was sweating, but the wind didn’t let up at all.
It may be difficult to win. It doesn’t always have to look like that. And Saturday was not the case.
Marcus Freeman’s Notre Dame team has won five straight since defeating Georgia Tech on Saturday. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
“Overall, everyone had a part in it,” Freeman said. “There’s not one person you’re going to give success to. This is a group effort and everyone in that room is doing their job to achieve the team glory that we want on Saturday.” Please point out what needed to be accomplished.
It may sound paradoxical, but what is not in college football these days? — Notre Dame is growing and getting younger at the same time. The Irish lose their All-America cornerback and replace him with a freshman who barely misses a beat. The future NFL running back embraces life as a lead blocker for a quarterback who can’t seem to get Notre Dame’s passing game together. The Irishman has already started at left tackle and cornerback as a freshman. Maybe they should start at defensive end as well.
Notre Dame may not have a classically great team in its locker room, at least in the sense that it feels like there’s a ceiling for the season. All these injuries are significant.
But the Irish are still very good. They’re more than capable of running the table, and it’s a chance for Freeman to show he’s grown as a coach. That’s because a 10-game winning streak is needed for a coach who has never won more than five games in a row. Freeman talks about maximizing Notre Dame’s potential. It’s becoming clear just how much potential this team has. The Irish are more than good enough to be in the College Football Playoff, and maybe good enough to make some noise in the playoffs, but they probably don’t have much left to do until mid-January.
“We want to be perfect, but it’s a reflection of your preparation, so we as coaches are going to continue to challenge them,” Freeman said. “There’s more. There’s no finish line in how you prepare and how you prepare. That way you’ll have more experience and a chance to perform better on Saturday.”
Notre Dame feels like it’s still one quarterback away from being the team Freeman envisions. You still have to squint to see Riley Leonard in such a light. He has thrown six touchdown passes all season, but he’s not among the top 100 in the nation. He got an incredible 10th place, which is like a service academy. But Saturday’s first-quarter interception was a throw that would have put many quarterbacks on the bench, or at least warmed up their backups.
Leonard misread the report and prayed to Beau Collins anyway. The receiver seemed to give up on the route, probably thinking the ball wouldn’t come to him for that coverage. Notre Dame has been practicing the play all week, Leonard said, and it worked virtually every time the Irish called it. Leonard was supposed to take a deep shot as soon as he read the secondary, but contrary to appearances, it never came. Instead, Notre Dame had to think about Leonard’s final interception, another deep shot, and the one he made against Northern Illinois. That led to a loss that could have put the season in jeopardy. There were no traces left here.
“He didn’t read it right and made the wrong decision, but he’s confident. That’s part of the game, right?” Freeman said. “You have to be confident in your decisions, even if sometimes you are wrong, because sometimes you make a wrong decision and it turns out to be a great play, because he made it quickly. .”
“So he’s a confident guy because of the way he prepares and he did a great job after the interception. We believe in our offense.”
If Notre Dame plays defense like this, that belief will pay off.
Notre Dame’s offense is still a work in progress, but it’s making progress. What the Irish are doing with Al Golden’s defensive playbook feels like a sure thing heading into the second half of the season. Notre Dame has allowed just three rushing touchdowns all season. It was all a one-yard scrum. They allowed a scoring drive in the first quarter, but then it was over. And if the Irish can keep the rest of the defense healthy, there’s no reason to think this defense won’t make two trips to the East Coast before finishing in Los Angeles.
even deeper
Notre Dame’s accomplishment: Irish slow down Georgia Tech’s rushing attack and advance to easy victory
That’s one reason Leonard’s decision-making — forcing a deep pass into the end zone in the fourth quarter as Notre Dame was running out the clock — can be so infuriating. He should know better. And if he wins, it’s virtually impossible to beat Notre Dame, at least in the regular season. Leonard doesn’t need to be a playmaker with his arm. He just needs to avoid making big mistakes.
Basically, it’s about taking what the defense gives you. Paired with Jeremiah Love and Jadarrian Price, his legs always give defenses something to give. It’s hard to understand why that doesn’t come automatically for senior quarterbacks.
“That’s a great question,” Leonard said. “There are a lot of different factors when it comes to that. I think the biggest one is you throw a certain ball five times in practice, and I threw that ball to Bo five times. Well, that doesn’t mean anything. It has absolutely nothing to do with what happens in the game.
“So, before the snap, I’m thinking, ‘Okay, let’s get my muscles down and do what we did in practice.’ If you have just a little bit of room, pull the trigger.’ Well, those inches. It closed right away. I think at the end of the day, we were able to practice and realize that things could be different in the game.”
Leonard still has time to make performances like the one against Stanford the norm and throws like the interception against Georgia Tech the exception. Freeman continues to coach with growth in mind, which is why it feels like the Irish are improving, even if they are far from perfect.
What happened at Mercedes-Benz Stadium will probably never be remembered beyond a beautiful fake punt, even if it only resulted in a field goal. But again, that’s okay. Every weekend doesn’t have to be a national proclamation or a turning point in the season. Not everything Notre Dame does needs to be a referendum.
Sometimes boring things become progress. And no matter how memorable it was, that’s exactly what the Irish accomplished on Saturday. Or maybe it wasn’t.
(Top photo of Riley Leonard: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
