Notre Dame football’s Marcus Freeman is quite confident entering the Sugar Bowl. But he also seems to know that confidence is a double-edged sword.
After all, the Irish were confident when they kicked off their game against Northern Illinois. Then they laid the mother of all eggs. It just about derailed their season. But it didn’t. And for at least the second time this year, Freeman went on the record on Monday saying he believes that loss did more good for his team than bad.
“Sometimes, if you’re overly confident, you don’t put the work in that humble people must do,” Freeman said about his Notre Dame football team. “And that’s why you often hear me say ‘keep the pain,’ because we’ve got to remember, we’ve got to be those desperate individuals that we were after that loss.”
Notre Dame football still feeding off Northern Illinois loss
Since that loss, the Irish have won 11 games in a row. And it’s clear that plenty Notre Dame players believe that Marcus Freeman is a big reason why the squad has bounced back the way it has.
The same guy who was at the root of blowing a 28-7 lead against Oklahoma State and lost 37-35 in his first bowl game is the same guy who couldn’t beat Ohio State twice.
He’s the same guy who lost to Marshall, Stanford and Northern Illinois. And yet, because he talks about learning from mistakes, Freeman is the same guy who Notre Dame football players and coaches believe will get them over the hump in a BCS/New Year’s Six Bowl game.