Notre Dame kicked off its 2024 season on the road in College Station against Texas A&M in a contest that was one of the most hyped matchups of the opening weekend.
The Irish earned the first of many signature wins of the 2024 season, a 23–13 victory over the Aggies that catapulted Notre Dame into the throes of the national title conversation.
What came next, in the team's home opener against Northern Illinois, was shocking. The Irish struggled mightily offensively, and were overcome with mistakes which concluded with an unconscionable 16–14 loss as a huge favorite.
One week after becoming an early season darling, the Irish were a laughing stock, with questions abound regarding Freeman's ability to lead a high pressure program like Notre Dame. What did Freeman do next? He grabbed a notepad and penned a letter to his team, that he read in front of them in a meeting in the days that followed, according to a cover story published by Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde on Wednesday.
"There is a reason we lost on Saturday," Freeman wrote. "Our challenge is to figure out what the reason was. Yes, there are schematic things, but there is more to this lesson. We weren't ready to handle success yet. Sometimes you have to lose to win. When a big win is on the horizon, usually a loss precedes it because there are lessons in losing that build the strength necessary to handle success. Delayed gratificaion equals patience plus strategy. Patience without strategy equals just waiting. We must do some things we haven't done, personnel-wise and schematics, and do things better than we've ever done. We will be grateful for this loss. Right now, misery wants company. Some of this misery, we're going to have to go through alone and take a hard look at ourselves, our units, our positions, and figure out where we fell short and how we can change it during that misery and eval. Just know that I velieve we have the best coaches and players in the country to get it fixed. There is no reward without pain, no success without struggle. Not denied, just delayed."
From that point on, the Irish won 13 straight games and reached the College Football Playoff national championship against the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Irish fell behind, but rallied in the fourth quarter to give themselves a late chance. Ultimately, Notre Dame fell short, but Freeman put the program back in contention for a national title, and the program is right back in the conversation heading into their 2025 season, which begins on Sunday night against No. 10 Miami.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Marcus Freeman's Motivational Letter After Northern Illinois Loss Sparked Irish to CFP Berth .
