2012, 18,20 & 21. For Freeman to take this to the next level he has to beat Georgia. Maybe not even win but compete. Can you imagine going into this game with your back up QB? For all the crap Leonard got at the beginning of the year Notre Dame would not be the same without him. Freeman & Denbrock knew what they had. It just took a while for him coming off the injury. Freeman has proven he can get his teams up for big games. Now they're all big.
The comparison between Marcus Freeman and Brian Kelly is so comically lopsided in Freeman's favor at this point, it takes a high level troll or legitimate dumbass to take an opposing stance.
But let's compare!
•BK has been a HC at the FBS level for 22 seasons, while MF has only been a HC for 3 seasons all at FBS level
•During those 22 seasons, BK has just 2 post-season wins vs ranked opponents (#23 LSU in '14 and #17 LSU in '17), while in only 3 seasons MF has 3 post-season wins vs ranked opponents (#19 South Carolina in '22, #19 Oregon St in '23, and #8 Indiana in '24)
•During those 22 seasons, BK is 0-3 in CFP/NC level games with an average margin of defeat by 24 points, while MF is 1-0 in CFP/NC level games with a 10 point win
•During those 22 seasons, BK is 2-5 vs ranked opponents in the post-season and 0-4 vs Top 10 opponents in the post-season with an average margin of defeat by 22 points, while in only 3 seasons MF is 3-1 vs ranked opponents in the post-season and 1-1 vs Top 10 opponents in the post-season with the loss by only 2 points in his first game ever walking a sideline as a HC
So that's how they stack up in just the post-season, but what about overall?
Vs all ranked opponents BK is: 0-1 at CMU, 9-3 at Cincy (0-2 vs Top 10), 23-23 at ND (4-13 vs Top 10), and 4-8 at LSU (3-4 vs Top 10)
Vs all ranked opponents MF is 12-5 at ND (3-4 vs Top 10)
But as we all know rankings aren't infallible..teams can move up or down after you play them, etc, etc..
The real tried and true indicator of HC success that stands the test of time is Winning Percentage.
Winning Percentage says it all. Every HC who won a NC at Notre Dame had a Winning Percentage over .760 while at Notre Dame.
During BK's 12 seasons at Notre Dame, he had a considerably high Winning Percentage at three different and distinct points in time, yet never approached, let alone crossed the .760 threshold.
These are the three peaks in Winning Percentage that BK hit in his 12 seasons at ND:
•(.737) After the 12-0 regular season in '12 (prior to the NCG loss) BK improved his Winning Percentage at ND to .737
•(.741) Following a disappointing 9-4 season in '13, BK got off to a 6-0 start in '14, improving his Winning Percentage at ND to a personal best of .741 (prior to the FSU loss and losing 5 of the last 6 regular season games)
•(.739) After a disastrous 4-8 season in '16 that dropped his Winning Percentage to .656, BK spent the next five seasons digging himself out of that hole, finally culminating after an 11-1 regular season in '21 (prior to the LSU departure) with his overall Winning Percentage at ND of .739
In stark comparison MF currently has a Winning Percentage of .775 at ND, which is a level no one has sniffed since Lou Holtz. Even more impressively, since MF's 0-3 start at ND he has gone 31-6 for a Winning Percentage of .838 over the last 37 games.
If you Super cherry pick for BK and throw out his first 116 games at ND (9 whole seasons), he was 32-5 in his last 37 games at ND from '19-'21 before departing for LSU.
12-0, and playing in the National Championship isn’t as good if not better?
Smoking some funny stuff today? Or you just hate Kelly that much?
MF in only his 3rd year as a HC, just beat the 8th ranked team in a post-season CFP game.
That's not hate, it's just a fact.
BK was selected for the NC game by the BCS, he didn't win his way there in the post-season as is required now. How would a HC, who won only two ranked games in the post-season his entire career and never beat a Top 10 team in the post-season, win his way into the NC in the post-season?
If the BCS format is applied to the results from this season, Oregon & Notre Dame are the teams selected for the NC game.
Until we play in the NC game Kelly has one up on Freeman. That is irrefutable. Tell me otherwise.
Fact: in his entire career, not just his time at ND, but all 22 years in FBS at four different stops..BK's only post-season wins vs ranked teams are over (#23) 8-5 LSU in '14 and (#17) 9-4 LSU in '17.
Fact: In his first 3 years ever as a HC, MF has beaten 3 ranked teams in the post-season: (#19) 8-5 South Carolina, (#19) 8-5 Oregon St, and (#8) 11-2 Indiana..and his only post-season loss was in his first game as a HC ever, losing by 2 points to (#9) 12-2 Oklahoma St
If you want to go out of the way to place a higher emphasis on a participation trophy than actual wins, that's your prerogative but I'll place the emphasis on the guy who has actually won..especially when MF would currently have an identical participation trophy in hand right now if we were still using the BCS.
And the reason is because it would change the narrative and trajectory of the program if we can't beat this version of GA on a big stage.
Until we beat a top team like Georgia things haven’t changed at all.
