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Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman takes 'leave no doubt' mantra to College GameDay

Tyler Jamesby: Tyler James01/20/26TJamesND

ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit decided he needed to get up from his seat during Monday night’s “College GameDay” episode to shake Notre Dame football head coach Marcus Freeman‘s hand.

Herbstreit didn’t wait for the segment to end or the show to go to commercial break. He walked around the desk in the middle of the the show’s interview of Freeman for the public display.

“That’s a great approach to getting left out,” Herbstreit said during the pregame show for the College Football Playoff National Championship Game featuring No. 1 Indiana and No. 10 Miami.

Fellow analyst Pat McAfee pointed out how Freeman slipped into his explanation the fact that Notre Dame lost by slim margins to Miami, 27-24, and fellow CFP qualifier Texas A&M, 41-40, as if Freeman was still campaigning for a spot in the 12-team playoff field.

“I tried to sneak it in. I tried to sneak that in,” Freeman said with a laugh.

The answer Freeman gave that impressed Herbstreit came following a question of Freeman from legendary coach Nick Saban. The College GameDay analyst asked Freeman how he handled Notre Dame missing the College Football Playoff by one spot with a No. 11 ranking.

“Well, I think at first when you find out, you’re disappointed,” Freeman said. “Because you get in front of your team and you don’t have the answers for why.

“This was never a situation where we deserved to be in the playoff in front of Miami or Alabama or anything like that. This was, OK, the rankings had shown if we continued to win in the fashion we were winning, it looks like we’re going to make the playoff, and we didn’t.

“The day we found out, the response was one thing. But after 24 hours, the ability to get in front of your team and say, ‘You know what? We have to move forward.’

“I remember our first team meeting we just had for 2026. My message was it’s up to us to leave no doubt. We left doubt. We lost by four or five points in the first two games. We left doubt. It’s our job to make sure we leave no doubt.”

Freeman’s interview with the GameDay crew included McAfee asking him who would win in a fight between Freeman and Miami head coach Mario Cristobal.

“You know, I just turned 40,” Freeman said. “And I’m done. I retired. I’m retired. I’m retired”

McAfee chimed in with a joke about not fighting in a clear reference to the debunked allegation of battery made against Freeman by a local wrestling coach. Freeman laughed and dapped up McAfee.

“Alleged. Alleged. Alleged,” Freeman said.

Freeman spent large portions of the 2 and 1/2 hours of pregame coverage on the ESPN set. His time included Indiana film breakdowns of Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza and center Pat Coogan, who spent his first four seasons at Notre Dame.

Freeman’s “key to success” for either team in Monday’s game was to affect the opposing quarterback.

““For me, it’s whose defense can make the opposing QB uncomfortable,” Freeman said. “That means with, yes, four-man pressure, five-man pressure. But who can show something pre-snap and make that quarterback hold it for at least a half a second. Now that dominant D-line can get to the quarterback. So that’s my key.”

Freeman even made a prediction for Miami to win the game. He said he didn’t want to make a pick, but McAfee said he had to.

“It’s hard not to pick Indiana when you live in Indiana,” Freeman said. “And I love Pat Coogan, their starting center. But Nov. 7, 2026, we play Miami. And I know what I would do if somebody picked against us, because I’ve done it plenty of times when everybody on this set has picked against us. And I’m not gonna give Miami any bulletin board material. So, my heart says Indiana, but I’m gonna use my head, and I’m gonna pick Miami.”

Here are some more highlights from Freeman’s time on ESPN.

On the comparison between this year’s Indiana team and the won Notre Dame beat in last year’s playoff …

Freeman: “As you watched last year’s game, they were a disciplined football team. Schematically, there were similarities to this year’s team, but it all starts with the quarterback. The quarterback’s different. He’s doing some spectacular things with the ball. And they’re able to run the ball with a lot of efficiency. And I think that’s given him an opportunity to have a lot of success. Their defense is playing lights out. Those guys up front are playing extremely well.”

On how Miami can limit Indiana’s running game, which ND did well last season …

Freeman: “We tried to mix it up. We tried to pressure. We tried to move the front a little bit. But I think what happens when you have this quarterback is you’re going to have to make sure you defend the pass. You have to defend the pass. You can’t put the extra guy in the box on first down.”

Herbstreit chimes in about numbers in the box in the middle of Freeman’s answer.

Freeman: “Exactly right. Exactly right. We did some really good things up front. I thought our D-line played well against them last year, but this team is really good. It’s really good.”

On how Freeman handled the messages to his team after each round of the playoff last season …

Freeman: “Every week it continued to be the same message. We gotta continue to elevate. How do we get better? How do we find a way to take advantage of these five-to-seven practices and find a way to improve for the next opportunity? So, that’s what the message was each week.

“And as we got ready for the national championship, I heard you talking about it earlier, Coach, of trying to keep the main thing the main thing. It’s still a game. Do what you’ve done.

“I remember, I got a message from [NBC Sports analyst and former NFL quarterback and head coach] Jason Garrett, who played and won a Super Bowl. He gave me the example of using a 2×4. “So, at the team meeting before the national championship game, I had a 2×4, and I said, ‘Listen, if I asked you guys to walk across this 2×4, every one of you guys would do it.’ Then I said, ‘If you put this same 2×4 in between two skyscrapers, not one of you would do it.’ I said, ‘But it’s the same 2×4. And it’s still 120 by 53 1/3.’

“Now, we ended up losing by what, 11 or 12 points, so I gotta come up with a new message if we get that opportunity.”

On the difference between Miami since beginning of the season until now …

Freeman: “It’s the success of the running game. They ran the ball pretty well against us. But the success they’ve been running the ball with has really helped propel them to this opportunity. Their O-line is playing as well as it has all season. They have multiple backs that are good — big, physical, they break tackles. But their O-line is playing as well. I think they’re coached well. I think they’re tough. They get bodies on bodies, which is what we talk about, and they’re creating some good movement.”

On the significance of Miami playing for a national championship …

Freeman: “I remember being a high school recruit around 2001-2002, that standard was did you get offered by Miami? Very similar when you were the head coach at Alabama, Coach. Like did you get offered by ‘Bama? So I think it’s great for college football is competing for a national championship. I look forward to seeing what they do tonight.”

On what Mendoza does well for Indiana …

Freeman: “Obviously, he understands the game. He understands what the defense is giving him. The times I hear him speak about the preparation he puts into it, there’s no confusion to why he’s having so much success. It’s the work. He puts a lot of work into it. I know I’ll go over this in a little bit, but when you show him what you’re playing defensively, it’s over. Like if he knows what you’re in and it’s a pass play, he’s going to expose you.”

On Indiana wide receiver Elijah Sarratt …

Freeman: “As you watch him play, he just makes big catch after big catch. I think back to when we played them last year, he had a couple big catches, back-shoulder fades. He is a special football player. He’s obviously been with [head coach Curt] Cignetti since the JMU (James Madison) days.”

On Indiana’s offensive line …

Freeman: “A lot of recognition and rightfully so goes to Fernando Mendoza, but their offensive line, as Coach just mentioned, and their ability to run the ball has really contributed to the success their having on offense. If you look at the two games that probably were the closest games for them — the Iowa game and Penn State — they struggled to run the ball at times.”