Has there ever been a busier, more significant January 20th, than the one we woke up to this morning?
It’s not enough that we inaugurate our 47th President, one Donald John Trump _ who is also our 45th President _ today. We also celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was tragically assassinated 57 years ago.
And at the end of what promises to be a long and emotional day for our deeply divided nation, we’re going to crown a new college football national champion at the end of our first-ever 12-team playoff, with Notre Dame and Ohio State meeting a couple of hours south of Chattanooga inside Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium at 7:30 on ESPN.
Beyond that, Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman, who is actually an Ohio State grad and former Buckeye star linebacker, is not only the first Black coach to compete for a national title at the CFP level, but would obviously be the first to win it.
Given that King was born in Atlanta, co-pastored the Ebenezer Baptist Church there and helped organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference there, for Freeman to possibly become the first Black football coach to win a natty while playing in the Big Peach is too symbolic to ignore.
Nor has that fact escaped him. When this was mentioned after the Irish’s semifinal win over Penn State in the Orange Bowl on January 10 _ which was also Freeman’s 39th birthday _ his voice cracked. He has chosen not to discuss it in length, but it is clearly on his mind.
Finally, because this is my column, I need to wish Happy Birthday to my sister Missy, who lives in Atlanta.
But back to Freeman and the game. As most sports fans are well aware, this is the same Notre Dame team that lost 16-14 to true mid-major Northern Illinois back on September 7 in South Bend, a defeat that most believed would deny the Irish any shot at the playoff, even if it included eight extra teams and Notre Dame was, well, Notre Dame, a name so powerful in college football that it has its own television network (NBC).
Freeman wasn’t angry or emotional after that early setback. He laid out the facts. As an independent, the Irish were out of mulligans. Every game forward would be a playoff game. One loss and done. The Irish listened and learned. Their average margin of victory from that point forward over the remaining 10 regular season games was 30.7 ppg. They’ve won their three playoff games by almost nine points a game.
Given that loss to Northern Illinois, it might be one of the most remarkable playoff runs ever. And as one television talking head noted a couple of weeks ago, Freeman’s positive yet humble personality has “made Notre Dame likeable,” despite a national brand that usually makes it the villain of everyone but ND supporters.
Let us return to late 2021, ND coach Brian Kelly about to leave an 11-1 Irish team to take the LSU job. Freeman, ND’s defensive coordinator at the time, was the players’ pick, but as former Irish athletic director Jack Swarbrick told ESPN recently, "It was absolutely risky to hire somebody at a place like Notre Dame who doesn't have a track record as a head coach, but he won the job. We had plenty of really attractive candidates, but based on my experience with him, based on what the players told me, and based on a really excellent interview, he distinguished himself."
Now, three seasons later, on MLK day no less, and in the city of Atlanta, Freeman has the Irish on the brink of a national title, its first since 1988.
On paper, Ohio State would appear to be the better team. The Buckeyes played a much tougher schedule, and while they have two total losses to ND’s one, their average margin of victory through three postseason games is 20 points, more than double that of the Irish. There’s a reason Las Vegas has all those lavish hotels and casinos built on gambling and only a fool would ignore the fact that the oddsmakers in Vegas have made OSU _ which spent $20 million in NIL money to build this team _ an 8.5-point favorite.
Still, the more compelling story is the soft-spoken Freeman. While major college basketball has seen four Blacks win it all _ John Thompson with Georgetown in 1984, Nolan Richardson with Arkansas in 1994, Tubby Smith with Kentucky in 1998 and Kevin Ollie with UConn in 2014 _ Freeman can be the first to do so in football.
Over the weekend, Freeman said of his view of both legendary programs, which he knows from the inside out: “When I think about the similarities, more than anything I think the expectations that both programs have for themselves. Every season you go into the season wanting to be national champions. Obviously Ohio State has achieved that goal in more recent years than we have, but those are the expectations, to be at the mountaintop.”
On the final night of his life in April of 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. addressed a crowd of striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, ending his remarks of courage and hope thusly: “I’ve been to the mountaintop. I’ve seen the Promised Land.”
Eight and a half points isn’t a mountain to climb to reach the promised land of college football. Were I a betting man I’d probably bet the Buckeyes to win with the Irish to cover the spread. But on this day in the city of Atlanta, it just feels like all the intangibles and good luck charms are with Notre Dame to make history for Freeman and Black football coaches everywhere. Make it ND 23, OSU 21.