Marcus Freeman

Notre Dame played some of its College Football Playoff quarterfinal victory over Georgia without star running back Jeremiyah Love because of a knee injury, but he will be available for Thursday's semifinal against Penn State at the Orange Bowl.

"Jeremiyah has had a good week of practice," Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman told reporters Wednesday. "We have to be smart in terms of how much we're asking him to do in practice. We've got to get him ready for the game, but he's confident. Nobody feels 100 percent right now because we're in Week 15, but J-Love will be good to go."

Love initially suffered a knee injury in the regular-season finale against USC and then tweaked it in the third quarter against the Bulldogs. While he did not return for the closing stretch against the SEC foe, Freeman is not the only one who suggested he will be available for the game against the Nittany Lions.

Offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock said Tuesday that Love "feels like he's going to be ready to go."

That is welcome news for the Fighting Irish considering Love was their leading rusher this season with 1,076 yards and 16 touchdowns on the ground. He also mixed in 25 catches for 226 yards and two touchdowns as a receiver.

With Love limited to just six carries against Georgia, quarterback Riley Leonard ended up leading the team with 14 carries for 80 yards. While Leonard's ability to pick up yards with his legs is one thing that makes Notre Dame's offense dangerous, the team surely wants to avoid the quarterback taking unnecessary hits against a physical Penn State defense.

Jadarian Price will likely also be a part of the team's rushing attack, although Georgia limited him to just 37 yards on 10 carries.

Penn State's defense is seventh in the country in points allowed per game and eighth in rushing yards allowed per game. Moving the ball on the ground against the Nittany Lions will be a daunting task even with a healthy Love.

After all, the Big Ten team just limited star Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty to 3.5 yards per carry and two fumbles in the quarterfinal win over the Broncos.

If Love struggles to gain much traction on the ground, Notre Dame's offense will likely become too one-dimensional against a stout defensive front that could then focus on its pass rush and containing Leonard.

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman is a big fan of the new College Football Playoff after his team's 27-17 win over Indiana in the first-ever game with a 12-team format.

Freeman called the win a "historic" moment while speaking to reporters after the game.

"I've never been part of an environment like that," Freeman said. "Not many times in life you're the first to do something, and as I told the [team] in there, we were the first to win and play a playoff game in Notre Dame Stadium. That's historic. Something we'll cherish for the rest of our lives."

The Fighting Irish, who earned the No. 7 seed in the bracket, hosted their in-state rivals at Notre Dame Stadium on Friday night.

After a sloppy start that saw a punt and interceptions by both teams on the first three drives of the game, Notre Dame struck first on Jeremiyah Love's 98-yard touchdown run on the first play after the defense got a turnover.

The Irish eventually went up 27-3 before Indiana got two late touchdowns in the fourth quarter to make the score look more competitive than it was.

Notre Dame has won 11 straight games since a 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois. It's the program's longest in-season winning streak since starting 12-0 in 2018 before losing to Clemson in the College Football Playoff semifinal.

Next up for Freeman and the Fighting Irish is a showdown with No. 2 Georgia at Sanford Stadium in the Playoff quarterfinal on Jan. 1. Notre Dame has never defeated Georgia in three all-time meetings, most recently losing 23-17 in 2019.

Marcus Freeman is sticking around in South Bend after leading Notre Dame to the College Football Playoff this season.

Per ESPN's Heather Dinich, Freeman and Notre Dame agreed to a long-term contract extension which is "believed to be a four year extension." The deal keeps Freeman under contract with the Fighting Irish for six more years.

Nicole Auerbach of NBC Sports reported that the extension will make Freeman "one of the highest-paid coaches in the country."

Freeman, 38, was Notre Dame's defensive coordinator in 2021 and took over the head coaching job after Brian Kelly left for LSU. Things started rough in Freeman's first season as the Fighting Irish were upset by Marshall in their second game of the 2022 season, but he managed to turn things around and Notre Dame finished 9-4.

The Fighting Irish showed improvement a season ago, finishing 10-3 with a 40-8 walloping of Oregon State in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl.

The 2024 season has been Freeman's best at the helm. Notre Dame faced an early upset against Northern Illinois, but quickly inserted itself back in the College Football Playoff conversation by winning 10 straight games to close out the season.

The 11-1 season was enough for Notre Dame to put its trust in Freeman and he'll now look to lead the Fighting Irish to their first national championship since 1988.

His first task following his extension will be taking on No. 10 Indiana in the first round of the CFP. The 11-1 Hoosiers come into the matchup looking to prove that they can hang with college football's best after managing a relatively weak schedule throughout the regular season.

The winner of the matchup will square off with SEC champion No. 2 Georgia. If Freeman can get past Indiana and take down the Bulldogs, Notre Dame will be more than happy with hits decision to give him an extension.

Peter Schrager of Fox Sports noted that the Chicago Bears coaching search would likely knock on the doors of several expected candidates, including former Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel, Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury.

But he also floated a more surprising possibility.

"Another name that you haven't heard anywhere else that I would keep your eye on—Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman," he said. "Kevin Warren, former Big Ten commissioner, is now running the Bears as the president. Familiar with the college game. They're looking for a 'leader of men' type coach. Freeman a name to watch early on in that process."

Jay Glazer of Fox Sports outlined a number of other potential candidates for the position:

Freeman, 38, has gone 30-9 as the head coach at Notre Dame and has the Fighting Irish almost assuredly into the College Football Playoff this season.

He does not have any experience at the NFL level, however, outside of a brief playing career. He was drafted by the Bears in the fifth round of the 2009 NFL draft but was released that September. He then caught on with both the Buffalo Bills and Houston Texans that season before retiring in 2010 due to an enlarged heart valve in his left ventricle.

As for the Bears, the team's firing of Matt Eberflus was long expected, and perhaps long overdue. Despite high expectations heading into the 2024 campaign after an exciting offseason, Chicago is just 4-8 on the season, and the team has become something of a leading expert on how to lose close games.

There was the Hail Mary from the Washington Commanders. The blocked field-goal attempt against the Green Bay Packers. The overtime loss to the Minnesota Vikings after Chicago's furious comeback. The horrific clock management on the final drive in Thursday's loss to the Detroit Lions, allowing time to run out without managing even a game-tying field-goal attempt.

A once promising 4-2 season was marred by a six-game losing streak, four of them in heartbreakingly close fashion, and it had become a pattern—Eberflus went 5-17 in games decided by seven points or less during his tenure.

For the time being, interim offensive coordinator Thomas Brown will serve as interim head coach. But the Bears will conduct a search for a new head coach in the offseason, and Freeman is reportedly a name to watch.

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman is "on the radar" of NFL teams looking for coaching staff changes, according to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler.

Fowler named both Freeman and Oregon's Dan Lanning as coaches who have "generated intrigue in some NFL circles."

"Neither Lanning nor Freeman have any NFL experience, but if there's a year to think creatively, this might be it," Fowler wrote.

Freeman, formerly the Notre Dame defensive coordinator, was promoted to replace Brian Kelly as head coach in December 2021. He has since led the Fighting Irish to a 28-9 record and two bowl wins.

Fowler noted that Lanning's NFL candidacy is complicated by the buyout clause contained in his contract with Oregon.

The buyout in Lanning's contract is $20 million, but hiring him away from the Ducks could cost more than that due to a separate contract he reportedly holds with Nike, according to college football insider Bruce Feldman.

It sounds like NFL teams might have an easier time hiring Freeman, who reportedly has a buyout of less than $4 million, per ESPN's Pete Thamel.

After coaching linebackers at Kent State and Purdue, Freeman graduated to a co-defensive coordinator job with Purdue in 2016 before taking a DC role in Cincinnati the following season.

Following four seasons with Cincinnati, Freeman arrived at Notre Dame, putting himself in position to succeed Kelly following the head coach's move to LSU.

The Fighting Irish are 9-1 in Freeman's third full season at the helm, and despite the team's lone loss of the season coming in historic fashion—Notre Dame became the first AP top-five team to lose to an MAC opponent following a 16-14 upset by Northern Illinois on Sept. 7—the team has since remained on track for a potential berth in the expanded College Football Playoff.

Since the Los Angeles Rams hired Sean McVay, then 30 years old, as head coach in 2017, new head coaching hires have overall trended younger. Between McVay's hiring and the beginning of the 2023 season, almost half of the coaches hired were under 45 and had no prior NFL head coaching experience, per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. Freeman, 38, could potentially benefit from that trend.

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman revealed that the Fighting Irish have used an upset loss to Northern Illinois on Sept. 7 as motivation during their current six-game win streak.

"We can't lose the pain," Freeman said on Saturday, per ESPN's Heather Dinich. "That's what I want to make sure our guys understand. I don't want to lose the pain from that game because at times we are motivated by fear. We don't want this to repeat itself. We've got to use that."

He stressed the importance of using the loss as fuel and ensuring that his team doesn't get complacent amid the current stretch of victories.

"When you have success sometimes, you forget about that pain of what NIU left in all of our hearts and our guts," Freeman said. "There's moments I want to reflect on that and I don't want them to lose it."

The Fighting Irish improved to 7-1 following a lopsided 51-14 win over No. 24 Navy on Saturday. Freeman's squad wrapped up an exceptional performance on both sides of the ball, racking up 466 total yards.

Navy was also held to a season-low 14 points, which is even more impressive considering the Midshipmen surpassed the 30-point threshold in each of their first six games of the year.

Notre Dame's College Football Playoff hopes appeared to be shrinking following the 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois, falling from No. 5 to No. 18 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. It was an unprecedented outcome for the Huskies, as it represented their first victory against a top-10 opponent in school history.

However, the Fighting Irish have put themselves back in CFP contention following their win streak. As they attempt to earn a seventh consecutive victory against Florida State on Nov. 9, Freeman wants his team to keep the loss to Northern Illinois in mind.

Marcus Freeman believes his team can rebound.

The Notre Dame head coach spoke with reporters following his team's 16-14 upset loss to Northern Illinois Saturday and said "we've been here before" in reference to the situation that lies ahead.

Notre Dame started the 2022 season 0-2 but rebounded to finish 9-4. The Fighting Irish are now 1-1 following the loss to the Huskies.

The 2024 season looked promising for Notre Dame after Week 1.

The Fighting Irish entered Kyle Field and took a 23-10 victory over Texas A&M in the opening game. This set the tone for the rest of the schedule, with a mostly non-ranked schedule until a major matchup against USC at the end of the year.

If Notre Dame could have remained undefeated, a playoff berth would appear all but sealed. However, this loss puts those hopes on life support.

The Fighting Irish can only qualify through an at-large bid due to their independent status. With this, a loss to a non-power conference team like Northern Illinois could hurt their case over teams with a harder strength of schedule.

It also likely signals that another loss would knock Notre Dame from playoff contention so the room for error is extremely low.

The Fighting Irish will look to rebound next week when they travel to face Purdue.

Two weeks away from opening the 2024 season, Notre Dame has landed on Riley Leonard as its starting quarterback.

Head coach Marcus Freeman announced on Saturday that Leonard will lead the offense against Texas A&M on Aug. 31.

The expectation has been that Leonard would be starting for the Fighting Irish since he transferred from Duke in December. He couldn't play in the Blue-Gold game this spring after undergoing ankle surgery in March to repair a developing stress fracture.

It was the second procedure on Leonard's right ankle in two months. He had tightrope surgery in January to correct a high-ankle sprain suffered in Duke's 21-14 loss against Notre Dame on Sept. 30.

The high-ankle sprain kept Leonard out for the Blue Devils' next game against North Carolina State. He attempted to play through it in back-to-back games against Florida State and Louisville but was a combined 16-of-39 for 190 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions before being shut down for the rest of the season.

Leonard told The Athletic's Pete Sampson on July 24 that he's been fully cleared since mid-May and might have been able to play in the Blue-Gold game if it was a regular-season contest.

Per Tyler Horka of Blue and Gold (h/t Nick Schultz of On3.com), Leonard separated himself from the other quarterbacks on the roster early in camp and has been the "alpha" in the quarterback room.

Steve Angeli, Kenny Minchey and C.J. Carr are the other QB options on the roster for Notre Dame.

Leonard was the No. 8 quarterback and a 4-star prospect in the 2024 transfer portal, per 247Sports.com. He had a terrific 2022 season with 2,967 yards, 20 touchdowns, six interceptions and a 63.8 completion percentage in 13 games for the Blue Devils.

Expectations are high for the Irish going into this season. They're ranked No. 7 in the Associated Press preseason top 25 poll that was released on Monday. This marks the third time in the last four seasons they have been ranked in the preseason top 10.

Notre Dame has won at least nine games in each of the past seven seasons, with at least 10 victories six times during that span.

Four-star cornerback Ivan Taylor committed to head coach Marcus Freeman's program on Friday, becoming the highest-ranked recruit in Notre Dame's 2025 class (per ESPN's Blake Baumgartner).

Taylor is the son of former NFL cornerback Ike Taylor, who won two Super Bowls throughout his 12 seasons as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The younger Taylor previously looked at Alabama, Florida State, Florida and Miami before deciding to become a member of the Fighting Irish.

In 2022, he recorded 65 tackles and three interceptions while breaking up eight passes as a sophomore for West Orange High School in Florida. He also ran track at the prep level and reportedly owns a time of 4.5 seconds in the 40-yard dash, per 247Sports.

His agility and speed combined with his sound tackling mechanics make him an intriguing prospect. Taylor has the versatility to play across the secondary, having experience at both cornerback and safety.

While he's made a concerted effort to build his own legacy outside of his father's shadow, telling ESPN that "I'm my own player" in July, he's still taken advice from his dad in regards to the preparation that NFL players typically go through.

"Humble and work hard, I would say is what he's taught me the best," Taylor said, via Baumgartner. "... I'm embracing [the Taylor name] very much. My dad has taught me what he was being taught in the NFL. So I feel like I'm already ahead of the game because he's teaching me what NFL coaches and what it's been like and what you have to go through and how the whole thing is."

Freeman will be hoping that the young defensive back will help fortify a strong defensive unit in the future. Notre Dame allowed just 16.58 points per game this season, the ninth-best mark in the country.