The exposure Marcus Freeman gleaned during Notre Dame’s run to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game last winter was a gift that kept on giving — especially on the recruiting trail.
Well, it’s happening again Monday night, but with a twist.
The fifth-year Irish head football coach will be on site and on set as a guest analyst with the ESPN College GameDay crew at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., ahead of the national title matchup between top-seeded Indiana and 10 seed Miami. Coverage starts at 5 p.m. EST. He’ll also appear with host Rece Davis and GameDay analysts Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and Nick Saban at halftime.
Broadcast time for the game on ESPN is 7:30 p.m. EST.
The Irish played in last year’s CFP National Championship Game in Atlanta, falling to Ohio State, 34-23.
If nothing else, Freeman will get a close-up look at a future opponent in Miami, which is penciled in for a matchup at Notre Dame Stadium on Nov. 7.
The Irish won 10 straight games this season after an 0-2 start and finished No. 9 in the Dec. 7 AP and Coaches polls. But the CFP committee ranked the Irish 11th, with No. 10 being the cut line for at-large teams.
“As we look at that moment a month plus later,” Freeman said at a press conference Wednesday at Notre Dame covering a variety of topics, “it was obviously disappointing. But you have to move forward. And that’s what we’ve done as a program. That’s what I’ve done as a leader.
“And as I reminded the group on our team meeting on Sunday, it’s our responsibility to make sure we leave no doubt. Moving forward, we can’t blame it on somebody else.
“We can’t — although we may be, I may be confused about some of the criteria and the committee’s rankings and all those different things — it’s our job as we move forward to make sure we leave no doubt.”