{"id":728287,"date":"2026-04-14T22:25:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T22:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/728287\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T22:25:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T22:25:16","slug":"marcus-freeman-reveals-what-would-lead-notre-dame-to-joining-a-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/728287\/","title":{"rendered":"Marcus Freeman reveals what would lead Notre Dame to joining a conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2025 season was a massively disappointing one for head coach Marcus Freeman<\/a><\/strong> and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Notre Dame<\/strong> opened the season with back-to-back losses to Miami<\/a><\/strong> and Texas A&M<\/a><\/strong> (both of which made the College Football Playoff), then rattled off 10 consecutive wins to close out the season with a 10-2 record. However, the Irish were tabbed as the First Team Out of the Playoff, ending Notre Dame<\/strong>\u2018s season completely.<\/p>\n

Following the snub, many claimed that not being in a conference was Notre Dame<\/strong>\u2018s downfall. Because it suffered two early losses, it didn\u2019t quite have the opportunity to build a Playoff-caliber resume due to its competition. Just five of the teams Notre Dame<\/strong> defeated went on to play in a bowl game.<\/p>\n

Marcus Freeman laughs at question regarding Notre Dame joining a conference<\/p>\n

Because of this controversy that arises every single season around the program, Taylor Lewan<\/a><\/strong> of Bussin\u2019 With The Boys<\/a> finally asked Freeman the age old answer; would Notre Dame<\/strong> ever consider joining a conference?<\/p>\n

\u201cReally?\u201d Freeman asked with a chuckle and a sigh after being asked the question. \u201cI think there\u2019s advantages to being in a conference, and there\u2019s advantages not being in a conference. There\u2019s a lot of positive things that trust me, nobody was complaining about when we made the Playoffs the year before.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Independents\u2026 we look at it as a positive. Listen, we lost two games and didn\u2019t make the Playoffs. So, if our administration ever feels like we are truly at a competitive disadvantage by not being in a conference, I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll join a conference. But, we just shouldn\u2019t have lost two games. Simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being an Independent makes the one or two massive games the Irish play every regular season extremely important. Notre Dame<\/strong> won both of those games (No. 20 Texas A&M<\/a><\/strong> and No. 15 Louisville<\/a><\/strong>) in 2024 and cruised to the College Football Playoff, even though it lost a shocker at home to Northern Illinois<\/a><\/strong> in Week 2. The Irish went on to make an appearance in the College Football Playoff National Championship that season, where it fell to Ohio State.<\/p>\n

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the effect it had on the sports world, Notre Dame<\/strong> joined the Atlantic Coast Conference for a season in 2020. The Irish compiled a 10-2 record and were selected to the College Football Playoff, leading many to believe the fit could be permanent. However, that was not the case, and Notre Dame<\/strong> continues to be one of two Independents remaining in FBS (UConn<\/a><\/strong>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025 season was a massively disappointing one for head coach Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame Fighting…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":728288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[1318,211085,1317,1315,1316,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-728287","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-marcus-freeman-04-wayne","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football","12":"tag-ncaafootball","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116405412064995571","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=728287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/728288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=728287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=728287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}