Urban Meyer calls Marcus Freeman explanation on 10-men on field ‘inexplainable’
Notre Dame and Ohio State provided one of the most thrilling college football games so far this season, as the Buckeyes were able to score as time expired to secure a huge 17-14 victory. While the Buckeyes were praised for their win, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman caught some flack after having only 10 players on the field for the team’s last two plays of the game.
Former Ohio State and Florida head coach Urban Meyer is known for his ability to regularly win at a high level during his time as a collegiate head coach, but has also had some tough losses of his own. And on ‘Urban’s Take with Tim May,’ he opened up about one that stands out to him most as it relates to Freeman’s situation.
“Obviously you knew that after losses it took me months. The 2015 Michigan State loss, that’s how many years ago and it still, I’ll get flashbacks of what we could’ve done better because I really felt like that was coaching error,” Meyer said. “And if you lose a game because a team’s better or something’s going on that’s one thing, but when you think that, my gosh I look at that Michigan State loss and how talented we were.”
The Spartans spoiled the Buckeyes’ perfect season just a week ahead of their rivalry game with Michigan, as a last-second field by Michael Geiger ruined the Buckeyes Big Ten Championship and College Football Playoff hopes.
“I know Zeke was in the hospital for a few days before that, I don’t want to go back there, but I’m correlating that to what Marcus Freeman who is an excellent coach obviously, I love the guy,” Meyer said. “I really want him to be successful. He’s a Buckeye, he’s at a great school, Notre Dame, but when you look at that, it’s inexplainable.”
Freeman took full responsibility for the late-game blunder, claiming he wanted to substitute a fourth defensive lineman into the game but didn’t without any timeouts and fear of getting a penalty. A mistake that Meyer couldn’t exactly justify.
“There was a timeout and you ran 11 guys on the field. They ran an incomplete pass, and I even saw that because I was watching it in real time like wait a minute, that doesn’t look right. There’s no one on the left side of the line and then they did it again and Ohio State substituted, so that means the official had stood over the ball and Notre Dame could’ve ran a whole new group on the field,” Meyer explained. “I don’t know and I don’t want to beat people up over that but that’s one of those ones where you’re like I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen that.”
Given Meyer’s perspective, there’s no doubt that the loss will stick with Freeman for some time. But hopefully, the Fighting Irish along with their head coach will be able to bounce back versus another ranked opponent this weekend as they face No. 17 Duke.