A lot is on the line for Marcus Freeman and his Fighting Irish. The last natty for the program came in 1988 under Head Coach Lou Holtz when the current HC was barely two years old. More than the program- let us focus on the man. Freeman has a chance to be the first Black coach to win the national championship. What stands before him? Well, before he takes a shot at the grand prize, James Franklin’s Penn State- another Black coach, eyeing the same narrative. Before the two butt heads on January 9, there is a lot to address, and one point, in particular. Have the Fighting Irish been dealt a bad hand?

By now, we are all aware of how the Sugar Bowl between Notre Dame and Georgia had to be postponed from January 1 to January 2 after the deadly attack in New Orleans, the host city. After their victory in the quarterfinals of the CFP, the semifinal clash against the Nittany Lions will be played after merely six days. Of course, we understand the gravity of the situation and why the game had to be postponed.

Even then, consider this: Penn State played its game on New Year’s Eve. Could the CFP give Marcus Freeman’s team an extra day? How? Move the January 10 game between the Longhorns and the Buckeyes to a day ahead. What does Marcus Freeman think about the whole situation? Addressing the press ahead of the Orange Bowl game, Marcus Freeman was asked about the short week between the two games. “Like I said man, how you handle the unpredictable things in life will determine the success, and so the greatest thing about this week is like it’s just a normal game week,” the head coach said in true Freeman fashion.

That’s not it! Notre Dame HC elaborated on how the team is used to this situation. They have done this type of schedule for 10 out of 12 games during the season when they didn’t have any extra days. Just twice, the college football teams enjoy bye-weeks. However, whether it be a short week or you’re coming off a bye, it’s futile if you don’t make use of the time.

“Now what we got to do is utilize the time we have to expedite the preparations because what you miss in terms of not having those couple days is physically. We’re pretty healthy after this past game, but the mental preparation of knowing exactly what to do, so we got to make sure we utilize everything, every hour of the day to capitalize off of the the preparation,” he added.

We understand what Marcus Freeman is trying to do. It’s about not letting your players believe that you received the short end of the stick. That’s fair! And imagine him saying that the situation is unfair. “Oh, Freeman, ready with excuses?” You can picture the comments in advance. Having said that, Penn State is not complaining- not even a bit. First, they got the easy run to the semis (SMU and Boise State), and now they have this! Extra days of rest.

However, we can also add another layer to Marcus Freeman’s perspective. Extra rest didn’t help Kirby Smart’s Georgia (coming off a bye-week). They were thrashed 10-23 by a team that played in the preceding week. No wonder the Bulldogs looked rusty- turnovers and drops on offense. Notre Dame capitalized on that and won the game in that sweet eight-minute period (last minutes of the second quarter, first four minutes of the third). A Fighting Irish fanatic may still ask the CFP: could you not have played the Orange Bowl on January 10?

What did the CFP say about the rescheduling of the Orange Bowl?

We were not the only ones wondering about the precarious situation that the Sugar Bowl teams found themselves in. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey was the first to raise this. He asked the CFP if the Orange Bowl could be swapped with the Cotton Bowl. And he received an answer as straight as you can imagine.

“We’re not going to flip the games,” CFP executive director Rich Clark told ESPN. “The concession we made with the athletic directors was to start the Sugar Bowl earlier — an 18-hour or so delay. We slipped the game 18 hours to ensure we could provide safety and security for teams, coaches, staffs, fans and others involved. NOLA and Sugar Bowl officials were amazing,” Clark added.

Moreover, for CFP, it comes down to logistics. Both Texas and Ohio State will have to re-schedule everything. That may end up creating more problems than it solves. So, there you have it! No re-scheduling, no swapping, the games go as they are planned. Notre Dame takes on Penn State on January 9, and we’ll finally see a Black head coach in the national championship final.