Analysis: On Blue and Gold Game, Notre Dame football's focus was rightfully on its future

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - It's Year 3 for Marcus Freeman.

The first two sowed promise. They ensured a high ceiling exists for the program under a first-time head coach. It proved Notre Dame football can thrive in a NIL-led era.

Still, Year 3 promises to sow even more change on top of the first two.

What needs to happen? Wins, to be clear. Getting there is a year-long process. The focus on that, the future, was at the forefront in South Bend on Saturday afternoon. The lessons Freeman learned along the way have guided that focus.

"There's a lot of things, a tremendous amount of things you learn and I don't ever think you stop," Freeman said after Team Blue outlasted Team White 28-21 Saturday. "I haven't stopped in the three years I've been a head coach and, and there's no plan to."

The future of Notre Dame football took another step forward Saturday. The program broke ground on a 150,000-square foot football support facility, backed by several former Notre Dame football players.

This facility will bring almost a 50 percent increase in space over the Guglielmino Athletics Complex – also known as the Gug – which opened in 2005.

The new facility is expected to open in the fall of 2026, allowing for future renovations, too.

Freeman made it clear: Notre Dame has never lost a recruit due to a lack of football facilities. However, whenever improvements can be made it's important to do so, even if it's just in a logistical sense.

"We've outgrown the building," Freeman said. "That's the number one reason we had to create a new building. The numbers in college football have just grown in terms of the staffs, the players. It's just grown. So, that was the biggest thing."

That's the way to keep up with a sport that feels like it's growing different appendages and adding different quirks every year.

It's different now. It's difficult sometimes.

Case in point: there's a two-minute warning at the end of each half in college football now. Add that on top of the fact this season debuts the 12-team College Football Playoff with home sites.

The goal is simple, which is hosting a College Football Playoff game. That's within reach for a Notre Dame team which has an experienced quarterback in Riley Leonard, an offense that added key pieces in the transfer portal and a defense that reloaded with freshmen and its own transfers.

What's important now is to get there. Freeman, in Year 3, now has the perspective that aligns itself with a coach that's enjoyed the joys of success and the pains of heartbreak.

"The one thing that sticks out is that you have to at times pull back" Freeman said. "The first year being a head coach, every day was the Super Bowl."

Pulling back doesn't mean easing up in the slightest. Especially after moving on from a nine-win season in 2022 to a 10-win season in 2023.

"Last year's over, that has nothing to do with this year," Run game coordiantor and defensive line coach Al Washington said. "Year 3, we got to play faster. We got to be quicker with our decisions on the field and we have. I think that is the case and that is the expectation."

What helps is the talent is also coming to fruition in Freeman's eyes.

"I believe this probably is, I would want say, one of the most talented rosters we've had since I've been here," Freeman said. "Now, our job is to build that talent and mold that talent and make sure we teach that talent to get to where we want to go."

Where Notre Dame wants to go is the pinnacle. It always has been the standard in South Bend. In Year 3, it's fair to assume more steps have to be made toward that standard.

Should that expectation be winning a national title? Maybe temper it down from there. Making the playoff is a good start, but Freeman eyes more.

It's one thing to make the playoff, but with the expanded field the expectation should be to keep making it from there.

That's Year 3. Year 4, if the pattern continues, should bring even more change Freeman and his program need to adapt to.

"Every day is important, but what you're trying to get out of each day could change," Freeman said. "You have to look at this as a progression to making sure you're ready to go when it matters the most."

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