Marcus Freeman on being left out of CFP: ‘It’s our responsibility to leave no doubt’
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Marcus Freeman held court with reporters during a Wednesday press conference that covered a wide array of topics that have brought him into the news cycle.
And that’s without Notre Dame still being alive in the College Football Playoff or even making the Playoff at all, which was one of the very topics Freeman answered questions about. It’s no secret by now that Freeman felt his Fighting Irish were squeezed out of the Playoff on Selection Sunday and that he thought they absolutely should’ve been in with a 10-2 record and a 10-game winning streak to get that record.
But the Playoff committee chose a 3-loss Alabama team instead and it also chose a 2-loss Miami team, with the Hurricanes’ head-to-head win over the Irish way back in Week 1 being the ultimate deciding factor in getting Miami in and leaving Notre Dame out. And, of course, look where the Canes are now, ascending through the bracket as the No. 10 seed and arriving back in their home stadium, where they beat Notre Dame on Aug. 31, for a national championship date with top-seeded Indiana.
Meanwhile, that other college football program in the state of Indiana, Freeman’s program, has sat at home and watched it all unfold. Marcus Freeman took the high road on Wednesday with reporters when asked about the Irish not getting a chance to get back to the national title game, where they advanced in the 2024 season.
“It’s our responsibility to leave no doubt,” Freeman said. “Moving forward, we can’t blame it on someone else. Although we may be, I may be confused about some of the criteria in the committee’s rankings, it’s our job as we move forward to make sure we leave no doubt.”
With that bold statement in pointing the finger at his own team, Freeman was off to the 2026 season, when he and the Irish will try to leave no doubt in December.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
