Urban Meyer: Marcus Freeman is a ‘different man’ since building confidence at Notre Dame

In 2022, Notre Dame suffered two notable upset losses in Marcus Freeman’s first year as head coach. The Fighting Irish fell to Marshall and Stanford en route to an 9-4 record in the season following Brian Kelly’s departure.

One of those losses got Freeman a phone call from a former Notre Dame assistant who went on to win national titles at Florida and Ohio State. Two years later, the Fighting Irish beat Texas A&M on the road – and Urban Meyer saw a different version of Freeman than the one he spoke with that day.

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“Marcus Freeman was given the job at Notre Dame – first head coaching job is at Notre Dame. Think about that for a minute,” Meyer said on The Triple Option. “Arguably, the most prestigious program in college football history. Here’s a guy that really didn’t have a background other than calling defenses. They made the right decision – they hired him. But do you remember that first year, the look in his eye a few times?

“I actually called him. They had a tough loss – because I’d been there. Mack Brown was kind of my mentor when I was a young coach. And I called him out of the blue. I’ve known him, but not that well. We had some great conversations.”

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Freeman was visibly fired up ahead of kickoff of Saturday’s game, showcasing his emotion in the tunnel with his Notre Dame players. To Meyer, that showed his growth since he took over the program, and it led to an impressive victory in a challenging environment.

“That’s a different man right now than it was two or three years ago when he took over the job,” Meyer said. “That was not fake. When you walk into A&M, there’s over 100,000 people there. That’s a real environment against a real team. You know where the players were looking at? … Him. You are the leader of the team. And he did not have that confident look that he has now.

“When you saw – I think they lost to Marshall or something like that several years ago. He’s got a real look. And you want to know something? They nutted up and they got it done in the fourth quarter. I can’t say enough about Marcus Freeman. That’s a real team – a very young team. Offensive line is very young.”

Urban Meyer: ‘Complementary football’ led Notre Dame to win at Texas A&M

Notre Dame’s offense struggled to get much going early on against Texas A&M. The penalties mounted, and the Fighting Irish went into halftime tied with the Aggies 6-6. But Marcus Freeman’s group found its stride after the break, totaling 217 yards to eventually come away with the 23-13 victory.

The key, according to Urban Meyer, was balance. Notre Dame totaled 34 rushing attempts and 30 passes in the victory. Most importantly, though, the Fighting Irish came together with an offensive line that entered the night with five combined starts among the group.

In Meyer’s eyes, that was Freeman and the staff playing to their team’s strengths. He also saw a coach who trusted his players to get the job done.

“The art of complementary football is something that I’ve studied my entire career,” Meyer said. “It’s something that young coaches often err at, it’s something often that play-calling coaches err at. They’re so worried about their own statistics at a certain side of the ball that they’re not playing complementary football. … And I’ve got to compliment Marcus Freeman. He played complementary football.

“He has a new quarterback, he has five offensive linemen that have three or four total starts, Brady Quinn told us. It’s a very young offense. You know what he did? He played to their strengths. Their defense was all over A&M. Their quarterback was struggling. You know what Marcus Freeman did? He hung in there. He didn’t panic. When you write a book called ‘complementary football,’ go watch that game. They played off each other. They weren’t stupid. And he could have made some mistakes. Marcus Freeman did not. And I think people do not talk about complementary football enough.”

The players made the plays, capped by Jeremiyah Love’s touchdown out of the two-minute timeout and Mitch Jeter’s game-sealing field goal. But Meyer made sure to point out how Notre Dame got the victory.

“That coaching staff did an excellent job,” Meyer said. “Obviously, the players were phenomenal. But don’t devalue complementary football. That’s what won that game at A&M.”