Notre Dame football: Marcus Freeman on a Kirby Smart trajectory?

Marcus Freeman has restored the faith in the Notre Dame football team. The team beat Clemson on Saturday night. Before that, the team had three losses in four games. It didn't feel good.

Marcus Freeman played college football at Ohio State and was drafted in the fifth round of the NFL draft. He was a graduate assistant on Jim Tressel's staff at OSU in 2010. Freeman was the defensive coordinator at Purdue from 2013-15. Kirby Smart was on Nick Saban's team at Miami Dolphins and Alabama. Smart took over the Georgia football team in 2016. Notre Dame has a lot of talent. The team is not talented right now, but it has the potential to win a national championship. It's not as good as Georgia. The current team has talent, too.

Georgia and Notre Dame are both ranked high. Georgia was ranked ninth after the first game of the season. Notre Notre fell out of top 25 after losing to Marshall. They were ranked eighth after beating Stanford. Georgia's last home game was against Nicholls. The team was in 25th place when Tennessee won. It took until this week for them to return to the top. In comparison, Notre Irish were in 8th after their home opener against Marshall and they were off to a shaky start.

It's been six years since Notre Dame lost to Stanford. Georgia lost at home to Vanderbilt and to Georgia Tech. Both games saw Georgia be a strong home favorite. Saturday night Notre Notre beat top-five Clemson.

Georgia upset No. 8 Auburn in November. The team finished the season with a record of 11-1. Last year Georgia started the year ranked 15th in the preseason. They avenged their only loss to Auburn, beat Oklahoma and beat Rose Bowl.

Georgia beat Notre Dame on Saturday night. The game was played in front of 60 recruiting targets. Freeman's 2023 recruiting class currently sits third nationally. Notre Notre's 2024 recruiting group is second. Georgia won the national championship in 2008. The team lost to Marshall and Stanford this year.