Greg McElroy defends Marcus Freeman after upset loss, makes Kirby Smart comparison

ESPN analyst Greg McElroy still has faith in Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman. The Fighting Irish offense struggled mightily this past week in a 33-20 loss against Louisville as quarterback Sam Hartman committed five turnovers.

The offensive line’s inability to protect Hartman was a major issue in that game, as the Cardinals recorded five sacks and eight tackles for loss. Notre Dame also managed just 1.6 yards per carry on the ground as Louisville outscored it 26-13 in the second half.

That makes this week’s contest against USC even more important. The Trojans enter the game with one of the best offenses in the country behind Caleb Williams, but needed three overtimes to beat Arizona in Week 5. McElroy believes the Fighting Irish have an opportunity to bounce back against a suspect Trojans defense.

“This week might be a ‘get right’ situation against USC,” he said on Always College Football. “USC is the 112th ranked defense in college football. They’re giving up over four yards a carry, which is 80th in college football. The problem is, USC can get to the quarterback. They have a 10.1% sack percentage, which is 21st. So it really starts up front this week with Marcus Freeman. The offensive line is the centerpiece of what this team needs to be.

“Marcus Freeman has even gone out and said, ‘hey, this is an offensive line driven program.’ That was not what I saw last weekend. You have five sacks given up against Louisville. Eight tackles for loss. Multiple times that you got stopped on short yardage and they accounted for 44 rushing yards. They haven’t run for 200 yards against a Power 5 opponent. Something it did a handful of times last year. So you now get an opportunity to right the wrong against a defense that’s reeling.”

McElroy went on to say that he still believes Freeman can get the program going in the right direction, giving a bit more time. After all, he was thrust into the job with no head coaching experience and at the age of just 35 when Brian Kelly left in 2021.

That’s a daunting task, especially at a program with the prestige of Notre Dame. However, McElroy sees similarities between what people are saying about Freeman now and what they said about Georgia coach Kirby Smart when he first started in Athens.

“I’m still optimistic about Marcus Freeman,” McElroy said. “All the things that people are saying about Marcus Freeman are the same things they said about Kirby Smart five years ago. ‘He can recruit great. He’s a good defensive mind. But he’s messed up the quarterback spot’ or ‘in-game situationally hasn’t been great.’ All those things were said about Kirby Smart a handful of years ago. He’s a young coach that, unfortunately for him, is learning on the job.

“He didn’t have a training wheel run at a stepping stone program. He went from coordinator at Cincinnati to coordinator at Notre Dame to the head coach at one of the most heavily scrutinized places in college football. He’s gonna be fine. I’m not at all concerned about him. I think he’s a great coach. I think his best times are in front of him. But he’s absolutely got to get the offensive line going because that has been the heart and soul of this team for as long as I can remember.”

That’s definitely a lofty comparison, as Smart has now won back-to-back national championships and reached a New Year’s Six Bowl each of the past six seasons. Time will tell whether Freeman can live up to that, but it begins with USC at 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday.