As last night’s game ages towards the 24-hour mark and adrenaline continues to rattle ‘round brain and body, the overarching thought remains one of admiration towards Marcus Freeman, our now 39-year-old head football coach. We talked in the aftermath of the Sugar Bowl about how Freeman’s culture and Notre Dame’s wise investments took down Georgia. If we considered that one a culture victory, you can only imagine where we attribute last night’s.
Was Aamil Wagner’s fumble recovery the biggest play of the game? Was it Jeremiyah Love’s otherworldly touchdown run? Was it Christian Gray’s interception? Jaden Greathouse’s third down catch on the final drive? You can point to a dozen pivotal moments in the 2025 Orange Bowl. In nearly every one of them, someone previously unheralded or even doubted stepped in to elevate Notre Dame, pulling us upward from danger. In all the rest, it was a star player—presumably one of the most spoiled athletes in college football history—digging deep within himself and sacrificing his body for the sake of the whole. There was no hesitation from Notre Dame, and from the moment Steve Angeli took the field until the moment Drew Allar’s final pass, the lateral, bounced out of bounds, there was no fear. Notre Dame took Penn State’s best shot. Notre Dame got back up and outplayed the Nittany Lions for 31 and a half minutes.
Credit should be given to half a dozen or more Penn State players. I may have nightmares about Tyler Warren and Nick Singleton. Abdul Carter was as good as advertised despite playing through clear weakness and pain. Penn State’s big guys up front were better than our big guys up front until our coordinator advantage showed up and neutralized the trenches. Penn State was the best football team we’ve played since September of 2023.
In the other direction, credit should also be given to the dunces leading the Nittany Lions, James Franklin and Andy Kotelnicki and Tom Allen. Kotelnicki might be the best pre-snap coordinator in America, but pre-snap victories are only zero percent of the game. Allen was a lovable guy at Indiana, but a halftime seemingly spent scrambling to learn Steve Angeli 101 left him exposed to Mike Denbrock’s bullying when Riley Leonard did not have a concussion. Franklin? I didn’t understand until after the game, until hours after Xavier Watts interrupted Christian Gray’s on-stage interview to lob oranges to his teammates, just how much his comments about Freeman’s youth pissed Freeman off. I certainly didn’t realize how angry Notre Dame’s players were about them. No wonder our guys engaged in so much shit-talking early in the night.
Joe Stunardi got into the James Franklin angle more deeply for us, but to put a bow on the Penn State side of the discussion: We should be grateful that fate chose last night to be the worst football game of Drew Allar’s career. We would not have won had Penn State received even Kurtis Rourke-level play at quarterback. We certainly wouldn’t have won had they had Steve Angeli or Gunner Stockton.
It seems that something a lot of us Notre Dame people are experiencing these weeks is a landmark turn in public opinion. “I used to hate Notre Dame,” our coworkers or uncles or neighbors say, or, “I do hate Notre Dame, but…” and then they tell us they’re pulling for Marcus Freeman and Riley Leonard. Maybe it’s who we’ve played. Maybe it’s Freeman’s looks. Maybe it’s the fact we’ve been a non-factor nationally for most of the last thirty years, so they’re all no longer sick of the blue and gold. I think we all know the real reason, though. These guys are the easiest team in the world to support. Freeman deflects all praise. Leonard is so clearly genuine when he’s praising his messiah or his backup. Jeremiyah Love personifies the concept of having that dog within oneself. It didn’t take a public relations campaign to make Notre Dame cool. It took players following their coach’s lead, putting their heads down and working, loving one another and playing with heart.
There were plenty of jokes last night about how many parish priests would mention Riley Leonard in their homilies on Sunday, and I have no doubt the answer is high. But in seriousness, there’s an example here for all of us. The thing that makes neutral parties love this Notre Dame team is the same thing that makes us love them: They represent Notre Dame very, very well. There’s quiet pride and outward humility. There’s swagger without douchey-ness. There’s clear-eyed optimism and palpable courage. This is what we were talking about the morning of the Indiana game when we discussed Riley Leonard and stewardship. These guys make us proud to be associated with them. These guys are dutiful stewards of the university and the community we love.
Early in the season, I too wanted to see Steve Angeli play in place of Leonard. If the quarterback can’t throw, we wrote in different words, why play him at quarterback?
Leonard didn’t change all that much as a player between the NIU game and now. He cleaned it up, sure, but he did still throw those two interceptions last night, one reasonable and the other a disaster. What changed was Leonard showing us who he is, who he’s been the whole time. When we saw Steve Angeli in September, we were thrilled. When we saw Steve Angeli last night, we were depressed. A heavy-handed narrative by the fates, to be sure. But probably another good example for us all.
The Women Roll, the Men Fold
On the basketball court, it was another bad one this week for our namesake, with Micah Shrewsberry’s basketball team earning a road win over NC State only to completely panic in the closing minutes, fumbling the victory away. There’s a lot of season left, and every game except tomorrow’s is manageable, but it’s frustrating that a team with this much experience is so immediately flustered once the end of the game draws near.
Tomorrow, Markus Burton and the gang go to Durham to take on Duke. Duke is one of the two best teams in the country, and Cooper Flagg is out for blood after his dunk last weekend got so much love on SportsCenter. Maybe we shoot the lights out of Cameron Indoor. Maybe Burton runs a Brey-sian burn offense to perfection and we win a game in the 50’s. More likely, we get our ass kicked and we come back Monday morning two games under .500, carrying a four-game losing streak into a must-win game against Boston College. Maybe Monday’s the day we turn things around.
On the women’s side, things remain awesome. Hannah Hidalgo didn’t miss a shot against Wake Forest, which isn’t true but you believed it, didn’t you? She was actually 8-of-11 from the floor as the Irish put up 100 to the Demon Deacons’ 64. Sunday, we get Clemson at Clemson. The Tigers are a bubbly team with a 3–2 record in ACC play. Notre Dame’s a big favorite, but winning on the road is getting harder and harder in women’s hoops. Business trip.
