Notre Dame football was up 23-10 with the clock ticking just under eight minutes and the Fighting Irish were pinned inside their own 20 yard line on a 4th and 1. However, Marcus Freeman continued to coach aggressively, like has all year and called a trick play that ran to perfection.
Marcus Freeman's ‘aggressive mindset’ works for Notre Dame football
Freeman sent his punt team out and a few seconds went by, but as soon as the ref blew his whistle to start the play clock, the punt team sprinted off the field and Riley Leonard and the offense sprinted on the field. Kirby Smart and his Bulldogs are allowed the option to substitute, but took Smart 10 seconds to decide if he wanted to substitute.
The play clock reached three seconds and Irish had just one opportunity to try and draw the Bulldogs offside and Leonard hard count worked perfectly, as Jalon Walker crossed the neutral zone. Irish gained five yards and a first down which led to multiple first downs from Riley Leonard and his legs. This crucial play call by Marcus Freeman ended up leading to ND bleeding the clock all the way to the two-minute warning and sealing the victory in the Sugar Bowl.
Notre Dame got Georgia to jump offsides on fourth down 👀 pic.twitter.com/bFic0oc9SW
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 3, 2025
“It is a mentality,” Freeman stated on his aggressive play calling. “That situation that happened in the fourth quarter is something we practiced, and the performance is a reflection of that. We had a lot of confidence in the ability to do that.”
Freeman has been aggressive all year long as he has called many trick plays and gone for it on fourth down as he not only trusts his offense but trusts his defense to get a stop if it doesn’t go the Irish way.
WATCH: Marcus Freeman discusses Notre Dame’s trick play late in the game on 4th down that caused Georgia to jump offsides & basically end the game.
— Angelo Di Carlo (@angdicarlo) January 3, 2025
Riley Leonard then interrupts to say Freeman is being humble & that Freeman tweaked the design 2 days ago & made it better. pic.twitter.com/qsAmfvisGc
“That has to be one of our edges." Freeman stated after the game. "We are going to be an aggressive group and not fear making mistakes and not fear, ‘hey it didn’t go your way, we went for it on 4th and 1 and we didn’t execute. Here we go defense and they got a stop and that is how I want this group to attack our preparation and attack performance when we have that opportunity.”
All-American safety, Xavier Watts, was asked about what it is like to play for a coach so aggressive and Watts has nothing but respect and love for Freeman.
"Having a coach and a coaching staff that has that aggressive mindset kind of just gives us the confidence that, 'alright these guys are all in, we have to be all in too." Watts stated in the press conference. "So, when they go out there and they want to go for it on fourth down and want to be aggressive, you need to be all in and make sure you do your job and get it done. It is refreshing to have coaches like that."
Watts was named the defensive player of the game as he had 37 coverage snaps, just was targeted one time and allowed zero yards. He had seven tackles, six were solo and one was for a loss.
Notre Dame football now looks to secure its second New Year Six bowl win and continue this historic playoff run. The Irish and Nittany Lions will square off on Jan 9 at 6:30pm