The excitement might be already reaching the roof! After all, the Orange Bowl marks the Penn State Nittany Lions vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish after 18 LONG YEARS. Now it’s going to be extra special for Marcus Freeman and his boys. After all, they come off strong without the safe shelter of any conference. With Freeman at the helm, college football analysts are now divided into two groups. One believes that Notre Dame would win the title, while the other is still speculative of their victory. Meanwhile, analyst Stephen A. Smith took a dip into Fighting Irish’s past.  

Well, it has been a long ride for Freeman’s program. After all, since they are independent, they have to prove themselves in every step. The Fighting Irish dispatched ‘Google Me’ man, Curt Cignetti’s Indiana in the first round. Their latest feat came up while giving Kirby Smart’s Georgia a hard time, handing out a 23-10 loss to the Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl. But analysts like Paul Finebaum are still skeptical about their power since the last time they won a championship was back in 1988 under their HC Lou Holtz. That’s on ESPN College Football’s podcast First Take, Smith had to intrude. 

Now that Finebaum has shown him the path, Smith also thought of shedding light on the Fighting Irish’s past even before Freeman took the reins. He throws Finebaum a question at first, “Can you explain to me why Notre Dame an independent for the better part of the last decade plus had their own television deal? They ain’t at SEC, they weren’t even in the conference and they had a deal with NBC.” And for that who is responsible? Smith gives the full credit to Freeman. To make him stand out, he draws reference to Notre Dame’s former HC Brian Kelly.

“Think about that Paul. We go around and Notre Dame hasn’t really I mean this kid Marcus Freeman, this coach doing a hell of a job. He’s got them relevant even Chip [Brian] Kelly, when he got them to the national title game we knew they were going to get stomped by Alabama,” stated Smith. After all, Kelly coached Notre Dame for 12 seasons from 2010 to 2021. So it’s no joke that the analyst counts on Freeman more than Kelly. So for the ones like Finebaum still questioning whether or not Notre Dame’s win is going to change college football or not, Smith has an answer.

“I’m saying Paul, is with all of that going on they win the national title, the fan base won’t go away, the television networks won’t go away and that’s when they weren’t doing anything. If they won the National Championship, especially with the advent of the 12-team playoff you don’t believe that changes the complexion of college football you don’t think so? I do,” the analyst sounded confident. Now will Freeman have the year 3 luck of the Irish? 

How Marcus Freeman stepped out of Brian Kelly’s shadow 

Well, Freeman’s predecessor Kelly went undefeated in the regular season but lost the BCS National Championship Game against Crimson Tide. Now the current HC has already done something that the former has not. And what’s that? Winning a New Year’s Six bowl game over Georgia. No matter how deep the conversations go around critiquing Freeman’s worth, the HC has marked himself safe.

Instead, he claimed, “You have to make the choice to either waste time listening to people tell you how good you are, or what the past has been, or you’re going to put your time into preparing for this opportunity right in front of us. And that’s been my message loud and clear.” Freeman’s bull’s eye now is getting past James Franklin’s Penn State. For that, the Fighting Irish will have to slow down the most explosive offense in terms of yards per play.

Plus it comes with a gaudy offer of $14 million on winning. Since they do not belong to any program, the moolash is reserved for the mission. What mission? Here, the Colorado Buffaloes two-way star Travis Hunter came up with some noble ideas. “That can definitely take a lot of people some ways, you know, help them start businesses and start stuff you know help family members out,” suggested the two-way star. That’s how Marcus Freeman will be the flagbearer of change in college football.