Marcus Freeman sends message at CFP title game everyone must pay attention to

As the hours ticked away before the National Championship game between the No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers and the No. 10 Miami Hurricanes kicked off, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman joined ESPN's College GameDay to discuss the matchup and his own program.

Of course, Miami was the last team to make it into this season's College Football Playoff, literally knocking the Notre Dame Fighting Irish out of the bracket.

Then Notre Dame declined its invite to the Pop-Tarts Bowl, and there has seemingly just been a stream of drama to follow. However, when Freeman joined ESPN's cast ahead of the CFP title game, he made one thing clear: he's focused on what to do next.

"It's up to us to leave no doubt," Freeman said when asked about the Irish's mindset on being the first team out of this year's Playoff.

Notre Dame ready to prove its way to the CFP next season

Just a year ago, the Irish were arguably only a few drives away from coming back and defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes in last season's National Championship game. This year, they fell short of the playoffs, and it led to a lot of questions about Freeman's program.

"The day we found out, the response was one thing. After 24 hours, the ability to get in front of your team and say, 'You know what, we have to move forward,'" Freeman said. "We left doubt this time."

That doubt, of course, came when the Irish lost their first games, both of which were against teams that eventually made the CFP: Miami and the Texas A&M Aggies.

Freeman clearly knows where his team needs to grow: in the smallest things that make the biggest differences. In other words, those few points (four total) that Notre Dame lost its first two games by aren't acceptable if the team wants to make the Playoff at the end of the season.

The Irish will be back, Freeman knows that, and now it is just time for Notre Dame to prove that to the rest of the country (and, specifically, the CFP committee).