"It's going to be a great challenge:" What Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said during final national title preview press conference

ATLANTA — Ohio State is one day away from taking on Notre Dame in the national championship game. The Buckeyes landed in Atlanta on Friday evening. They have been going through their normal game preparations since landing including a final coaches press conference on Sunday morning.

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman, a former Ohio State linebacker, met with the media for a press conference Sunday to give his final thoughts on the national title matchup.

Everything he said about his program and the Buckeyes can be found below.

Freeman’s opening statement…

“Yeah, I want to first thank the CFP staff and all the work they’ve put in to put on this event. The welcome was amazing, the city of Atlanta. We’re grateful to be here.

As Coach Day said, it’s been a long journey. It’s been a fun one. We’ve got a great group of players but staff that have put everything into this opportunity that we have right in front of us.

We’re looking forward to this one last guaranteed opportunity that we have versus a terrific opponent in Coach Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes, and we look forward to the opportunity coming here on Monday.”

On the crossover between Ohio State and Notre Dame’s coaching staff…

“The first part of your question about relationships and my time at Ohio State, yeah, friendships are friendships. It doesn’t matter where you’re coaching or who you’re coaching with. Friendships are friendships. James isn’t the only guy that’s in the Ohio State program that I have a friendship or relationship with. Everybody knows where I went to college.

But as I’ve continuously said to our program and everybody around our program, it’s that this opportunity is about this opportunity. This isn’t about where I went to school. This isn’t about the last two times we played Ohio State. This opportunity is about this opportunity, and we’ve got to make sure we focus on that because this opponent is this current opponent. It’s not the last two that we faced.

It’s going to be a great challenge.

As far as Al Washington, he’s been a tremendous asset to our staff. We had the fortune to work together at Cincinnati for a year before he left, and I knew him before that. I know the type of man he is but also the type of coach he is. He is a developer of young people. He’s done a really good job of recruiting and developing the defensive line. We’re grateful to have him part of our staff.”

On the similarities and difference of Ohio State and Notre Dame

“Yeah, when I think about the similarities, more than anything I think the expectations that both programs have for themselves. Every season you go into the season wanting to be national champions. Obviously Ohio State has achieved that goal in more recent years than we have, but those are the expectations, to be at the mountaintop.

I think there’s not a tremendous amount of programs that can truly say that every year. I think that’s part of the reason why we’re both at these places. We want to be a part of a program that every year has expectations of being the best, and they’re willing to do whatever it takes to try to achieve that result.

The other thing I hope is that we continuously do it the right way. I know Coach Day and a lot of people on his staff that have integrity and do things the right way, and it’s about building young people and helping them grow, helping them be better individuals because of the time they’ve spent with us. I think that’s important, is that you can aspire to win National Championships every year.

But you can also make sure that the young people you’re leading are better because of the time they spent with you. I think that’s a reflection of both football programs.”

On what would it mean to deliver Notre Dame a National Championship…

“Yeah, when I think about this journey and this season, there’s a lot of gratitude I have to be on this journey with not just the players but with all the coaches and the staff, the men and women that are involved in our program and the efforts they’ve put into us being in this position.

When I think about this last guaranteed one, we started the season talking about reaching our full potential, and we’ve got one guaranteed opportunity to do that.

Let’s continuously put all the work we can into these last 48 hours or however many hours we have left to prepare for this moment and then go play. Go play. You’ve got a chance to play in the National Championship game. Enjoy the opportunity.

It’s going to be a difficult one. We know that. But listen, go out there and enjoy it, and don’t let the things outside of those white lines affect the way you play. That’s probably what’s most important.

I’m grateful for this opportunity and looking forward to it tomorrow.”