Freeman's first two games were against legitimate top-5 teams, and ND still had a decent chance to win both of those games in the 4th quarter. Stood toe-to-toe till the very end.
Marshall appears to be a very good football team. No, not saying ND shouldn't have beaten them, but as someone pointed out, a 3-point win against Toledo vs. a 5-point loss to Marshall...which was worse? I would argue Toledo as I believe their 2021 team to be, minimum, 10 points worse than 2022 Marshall.
Finally, and I may start a thread about this, but I truly believe Drew Pyne to be the better quarterback, a significant game-day upgrade over Tyler Buchner. Performance in practice and physical talent are one thing; game performance and having the right intangibles are another.