Josh Pate Changes Perspective on Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame Football

2024 was big in a lot of ways for Notre Dame as much of the national perception of the Fighting Irish has changed

Jan 20, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman against the Ohio State Buckeyes during the CFP National Championship college football game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Notre Dame had a dream season in 2024.

It had a massive win to start the year in a flat-out crazy environment at Texas A&M and ran off 10-straight regular season wins after a mind-numbing home upset by Northern Illinois.

Then in the postseason Notre Dame added victories over upstart Indiana, SEC Champion Georgia, and powerhouse Penn State en-route to a national championship appearance.

We all know Notre Dame fell short in that championship game, but simply getting there changed the narrative regarding Fighting Irish football going forward.

We've seen it from Paul Finebaum, who has already predicted Notre Dame ends up back in the College Football Playoff, but this time Josh Pate of CBS Sports is singing the Notre Dame Victory March (figuratively, at least).

Josh Pate Discusses Notre Dame's Future Under Marcus Freeman

Pate was doing a mailbag feature on his show Sunday night and was asked whether or not Notre Dame peaked under Marcus Freeman this year.

Pate, to his credit, was very honest about how he viewed Notre Dame as recently as a couple of months ago and shared what has changed in how he sees it now. Take a watch below.

"I flat out think Notre Dame can compete and win a national title under Marcus Freeman" said Pate, "I don't think we've seen them at their best yet."

In a world that is often full of click-bait headlines and drama stirring takes that are thought out only to draw an audience and not actually make much sense, I've long been a Pate fan.

Sure, he was over the top about how great the SEC was for most of last season and seemingly couldn't help but incorrectly pick against Notre Dame in what felt like every big game. However, he goes about his conversation with a level head and not screaming for the camera like too much of the sports media world has become. He may not always be right, but his points are usually very well thought out.

As for Notre Dame's chances to win big under Freeman, I think Pate is just speaking on witnessing what the Fighting Irish faithful have been preaching for years. The program went as far as it was going to go under Brian Kelly and has taken a step nationally under Freeman, specifically over this past year. And despite most Notre Dame fans not wanting to acknowledge it (understandably so), Brian Kelly did leave the program in an extremely healthy spot.

Now, can it take that final step and hoist the big gold trophy at the end of the year?

Dec 20, 2024; Notre Dame, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman during the first quarter against the Indiana Hoosiers at Notre Dame Stadium. / Matt Cashore-Imagn Images

If 2024 taught us anything its that this program is still capable of reaching levels that many thought were forever gone. If it makes a third-and-11 stop in the fourth quarter a month ago, who knows what might have happened?

There are clearly no guarantees in the evolving world of college football but picking Notre Dame to have staying power in the nation's elite feels like a very good bet under Freeman.

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