When Plan A doesn’t work, switch to Plan B. Well, that’s something Notre Dame Fighting Irish HC Marcus Freeman is following. Crucial time lies ahead of them as they will be facing off against the USC Trojans. In case Freeman’s words are not enough to hype up his boys, Freeman has cooked up an interesting plan. However, that would rather sprinkle salt on Notre Dame’s old wounds. But Freeman has now become all the way more desperate, ensuring that he is the one to inflict pain on the players before the game so that the players know how to take revenge on USC. After all, the wounds from 2022 are still fresh.  

Irish fans are feeling the heat. Their program is on its way to securing its 10th win in a row against its most bitter rival, Lincoln Riley’s USC Trojans. Freeman’s squad with a win will have their redemption, as they had been mostly playing in weekly CFP elimination games. But more than to light their playoff hopes, looks like Notre Dame is up for something else. After all, their game against USC would hand them the golden opportunity to seek revenge for the 2022 mishap. Maybe Freeman is still not over the fact of how the Trojans crushed the Fighting Irish on the November 25 game, 38-27. And what better motivation than constant replaying of the fateful day? Notre Dame wide receiver Beaux Collins gave a glimpse of Freeman’s strategy,  “Walking into the locker room they have a game from I believe what two years ago when Notre Dame lost.”

So how is Freeman making use of the most-hated video clip? Collins shared how the video is playing on a loop, “All on TVs all around the locker room, things like that.” Looks like the HC’s mission has been accomplished as the players like Collins by now have memorized what went wrong in that game and that they would not repeat it this time. And for this, they are not hating Freeman. Instead, Collins gave him kudos, “He does a good job, and just in the team meetings he does a good job of explaining what that film was a couple of years ago. Not only letting us forget how big of a game this is.” Now Freeman too talked about how sensitive the upcoming face-off is for him.  

Marcus Freeman’s painful history with USC Trojans 

When the HC planned something so intense for his players, then it’s evident that somewhere the pain continues to nudge him in the heart. Back in 2008, do you know Freeman lost to the Trojans when he was a player? So that means even before being the HC and facing the loss against USC, he already had a sour past with them. However, the latter one was harsher as the Irish were eliminated from the New Year’s Six Bowl game.

“We had a lot of hopes if we win this game, what bowl game we were going to. They obviously crushed those hopes…You guys hear me talk about ‘keep the pain.’ That’s one that sticks with me for a long time,” confessed the HC. Freeman did not push the players into pain but he too went through the pain.

As Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard shared an interesting trivia, “[Freeman] shares the vulnerability on himself first. He wanted to ignore watching a 4th and 1 that happened. But he forced himself to do it and forced himself to remember exactly how he felt in that moment.” Now, will Marcus Freeman’s rigorous conditioning efforts help Notre Dame conquer USC?

Meanwhile, if you want to get some interesting insights about the NFL, you can check out the latest episode of the Think Tank podcast.