Notre Dame football vs. Cincinnati: 3 things we learned in Week 5

Notre Dame Fighting Irish fans directing the band in the 1812 overture in the second half of the NCAA football game on Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021, at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Ind. Cincinnati Bearcats defeated Notre Dame Fighting Irish 24-13.Cincinnati Bearcats At Notre Dame Fighting Irish 233
Notre Dame Fighting Irish fans directing the band in the 1812 overture in the second half of the NCAA football game on Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021, at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Ind. Cincinnati Bearcats defeated Notre Dame Fighting Irish 24-13.Cincinnati Bearcats At Notre Dame Fighting Irish 233 /
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Oct 2, 2021; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish Defensive Coordinator Marcus Freeman signals to his players in the second quarter against the Cincinnati Bearcats at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 2, 2021; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish Defensive Coordinator Marcus Freeman signals to his players in the second quarter against the Cincinnati Bearcats at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports /

Notre Dame football vs. Cincinnati: 3 things we learned in Week 5

Marcus Freeman is as elite as they come as a DC

The Notre Dame football team lost on Saturday, and with the loss, current defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman saw many of the players he helped along walk off the field victorious. Last season, Freeman was the defensive coordinator for the Bearcats and played a huge role in the AAC school becoming one of the best in the country.

In his first season at Notre Dame, he has had to get used to the personnel he did not recruit, and the defense has looked leaps and bounds ahead of the offense. Looking at the talent he was able to grow at a smaller school like Cincinnati, the game on Saturday proved that above all else, Freeman is as elite a defensive coordinator and recruiter as there is in college football.

With the kind of recruiting Freeman has already done for the Irish, you can be sure that his defenses are only going to get better and better every year he is with this program. This game showed what Freeman can do with a defense after a few years of bringing in his own players, and at a school as prestigious as Notre Dame, the sky is the limit.