The rise of the Fighting Irish. This is something that was eventually going to happen. See, in his first full year as HC, Marcus Freeman managed to go 9-4. Followed that up with a 10-3 in 2023. Pretty good, but not good enough for the 4 team playoff bracket. Then 2024 happened, and the 12-team playoff situation was introduced. What did Marcus Freeman do? Took Notre Dame to an 11-1 run and the 7th seed in the playoff picture. They are finally in and you know what that calls for? Some celebration. Freeman has now bagged another 4-year deal with the Irish. This is going to get him more than $9 million each year, and Freeman is projected to become one of the highest-paid HCs in college football.

But then here is the thing. Wasn’t the announcement made too soon? See, we understand. There was this entire Bears situation going on. How Freeman managed to change Notre Dame’s destiny after that one horrible loss to NIU managed to catch a lot of NFL eyes. Chicago Bears are 4-10 this year and Freeman was projected to be the savior of the team. But then ND threw in the towel and secured their HC for a few more years. But this announcement is a double-edged sword. “And I know some people aren’t going to want to think about this. What if you lose this week?” Ryan Roberts points out. 

What if they lose their first round of playoffs? This might sound like a delirious situation because ND is quite well-equipped to deal with Indiana and its offense. Frankly, IU doesn’t have the weapons to hold off the Fighting Irish. See, Notre Dame’s main target was to ease the fans and the staff that Freeman was going to stick around.

But what if this backfires and people start pointing fingers at the entire contract if ND loses to IU? The Hoosiers have been impressive this year. They were 10-0, undefeated with no signs of stopping, and someone Curt Cignetti had managed to form the perfect offense around QB Kurtis Rourke. However, when they finally faced off against a team with a pulse (OSU), they lost 15-38.

This easily managed to take away all the credibility from Cignetti’s run. It was kind of the Texas situation during the regular season. Winning against easy teams, then losing against the single top-ranked opponent. But you know the saying, right? A wounded lion is more dangerous.

Immovable object vs unstoppable force: Notre Dame vs Hoosiers

There is something you should know about Hoosiers’ offense. While their strength of schedule is ranked 67 in the country, their scoring offense is ranked 2nd in the entire country. The entire argument with “Oh, they face easy teams” is relevant, but you must also give credit where credit is due.

Curt Cignetti has created quite the unlikely offense, which has helped the team coast past almost everyone. But then, this doesn’t mean the Irish have anything to be scared of. Under Freeman, the Irish have hit the 9th rank in terms of scoring offense.

However, what’s more important is their run defense, which is considered one of the best in the country. Just as their QB Riley Leonard had pointed out back in November, ND’s defense is “organized chaos”. The moment the ball is snapped, you will never manage to guess what happens next.

Freeman and his boys excel at wearing their opponents down, and from what we saw during the OSU vs IU game, Cignetti’s crew just doesn’t have the physicality to deal with all that. Then again, in college football, you’ll never truly know in whose favor the tables will turn.