Desmond Howard defends Marcus Freeman for controversial 4th down field goal attempt vs. Ohio State

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman has received some backlash for his decision to kick a field goal while trailing by 16 points with less than 10 minutes remaining in Monday’s national championship game against Ohio State.

However, ESPN college football analyst Desmond Howard defended the decision Tuesday morning on Get Up, stating that Freeman made the right move.

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“In real time, I thought that he made the right decision, because you want to get points,” Desmond Howard said. “I think at that point it’s very important for you to end that particular drive with points. Don’t forget, you’re still going up against one of the best defenses, if not the best defense in college football.

“It just seemed like they didn’t have the rhythm to go for it on fourth down to have the confidence to get into the end zone.”

The decision ended up not working out for Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame as Fighting Irish kicker Mitch Jeter missed a chip shot field goal. Still, Howard feels like the choice was correct.

A field goal would have cut the Ohio State lead to 13 points with about 9:30 remaining in the game. It would have also allowed Notre Dame to keep the momentum.

“It’s a feel game,” Howard said. “Those guys sitting at the desk, they’ll tell you, some of these decisions, it’s about feeling. What do you feel at that time, how’s the flow of the game? And at that point, personally, in real time, when I saw that, I said, ‘Yea, take the points, get the field goal, and let’s play great defense.’”

Dan Orlovsky believes Marcus Freeman made wrong choice

While Desmond Howard defended the decision by Marcus Freeman, fellow football analyst Dan Orlovsky disagreed with it.

Orlovsky said on Get Up that Notre Dame did not have enough time left to kick the field goal, which would have still kept it a two-possession game.

“You’ve gotta go for it here. You’re only going to get so many possessions down two scores. This should have been a go-for-it opportunity for Notre Dame,” Orlovsky said.

While Orlovsky disagreed with the decision, he did acknowledge that your chances of converting a fourth-and-nine are low.

“It’s easy to say when it’s fourth-and-goal from the 3, fourth-and-goal from the 5. Fourth-and-goal from the 9 is, ‘Hey, good luck.’ So there’s a part of me that understands it,” Orlovsky said. “But the points, they have to matter. Also, the amount of times that you realistically think you’re going to get the ball have to matter even more.”