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00:00Uh, tonight is the College Football Playoff National Championship, the final game of our
00:09first 12-team playoff.
00:11Only two teams are left.
00:13The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman against Ohio State and Ryan Day.
00:20Why don't we start with Marcus Freeman.
00:23Of course, in case you didn't know by now, Freeman went to Ohio State.
00:27He played there.
00:28Uh, but he is now the coach of the Fighting Irish, Scotty.
00:31He doesn't care about what he did in Columbus.
00:34Here's Freeman.
00:35Everybody knows where I went to college, but as I've continuously said to our program and
00:40everybody around our program is that this opportunity is about this opportunity.
00:44This isn't about where I went to school.
00:46This isn't about the last two times we played Ohio State.
00:49This opportunity is about this opportunity, and we've got to make sure we focus on that
00:53because this opponent is this current opponent.
00:56It's not the last two that we faced, and it's going to be a great challenge.
01:02If you remember the last time they played him in South Bend, I bet on Ohio State to
01:08win that game outright on this show, and they got it done at Notre Dame Stadium, and it
01:13was just a fantastic game, and they scored late to win the game.
01:17I think it's going to be a game very similar to that.
01:20I think all this talk about Ohio State blowing them out and being invincible, they're the
01:27greatest team that's ever played.
01:29I mean, honestly, I have heard people losing their minds about the Buckeyes being the greatest
01:36team ever assembled.
01:37I just don't believe that for one second that they're the greatest team that's been assembled
01:43in college football history.
01:45Not even close.
01:47I mean, not even close.
01:48The Ohio State's loss to Michigan was embarrassing, okay?
01:53So I don't want to hear it.
01:54And same thing with Notre Dame losing to Northern Illinois.
01:57That's embarrassing.
01:58So let's calm down that these are the two greatest teams ever.
02:01This is just who's playing who tonight.
02:03This is a great game between two really good teams, and I think people have overstated
02:09Ohio State that they're this vaunted team that's unbeatable.
02:13If they're so unbeatable, what happened against Michigan?
02:17Yeah, I'm with you.
02:19They are not some unbeatable juggernaut that's walking into this title game, and they're
02:25just going to—you know, this is not—you know, Notre Dame played—last time they were
02:28in a title game was Alabama about 10 years ago.
02:31I mean, they lost by 40.
02:32They got whacked because that Alabama team was unstoppable.
02:35Yeah, that was legit.
02:37That is not this tonight.
02:40You mentioned that game last year, 2023 season.
02:43Ohio State scored with one second left to get that 17-14 win in South Bend.
02:50So that was a hell of a game that they played, and I think we're going to be in for a kind
02:54of game like that tonight with these two.
02:57One more from Freeman, of course, the chance to bring glory back to South Bend.
03:02Let's go, baby.
03:04You know, when I think about this last guaranteed one, you know, we started the season talking
03:09about reaching our full potential, and we got one guaranteed opportunity to do that.
03:14And let's continuously put all the work we can in these last 48 hours or however many
03:20hours we have left to prepare for this moment, and then go play.
03:25Go play.
03:26You got a chance to play in a national championship game, and enjoy the opportunity.
03:31It's going to be a difficult one.
03:32We know that.
03:33But listen, go out there and enjoy it.
03:37And don't let the things outside of those white lines affect the way you play.
03:45That's probably what's most important.
03:48I'm grateful for this opportunity and looking forward to it tomorrow.
03:53Let's go.
03:54I don't know about that victory speech there.
03:56It was a little soft.
03:57I'm not feeling it.
03:58But let's see what Ryan says.
04:00He plays it that way in the press conferences.
04:03He plays it that way in the press conferences.
04:06You get him behind closed doors in the locker room, he's got the fire.
04:09He just doesn't like doing all that up there at the podium.
04:13He lets the other guy do all the talking.
04:16That's usually Marcus Freeman's way.
04:18Here is Ryan Day.
04:19He knows a very tough challenge with the Fighting Irish on the other side.
04:24This is an excellent team that has, you know, just found a way to win week in and week out.
04:29They, you know, I think have over 140 points off of turnovers.
04:33They play great in all three phases.
04:36You talk about offense, defense and special teams.
04:39I mean, these guys are really good on special teams.
04:42They keep you on your heels all the time.
04:44I mean, they fake punts.
04:45They fake field goals.
04:46They find different creative ways to get guys in the game.
04:48They've done onside kicks.
04:49They've done reverses on kickoff return.
04:51I mean, they're very, very good in all three phases.
04:55So it's a big challenge.
04:56And really the focus is about executing and, you know,
04:58making sure that we prepare for this game.
05:00Not, you know, the fact that it's Ohio State versus Notre Dame.
05:05Nothing in the past matters and nothing moving forward matters.
05:09Okay.
05:10Whatever.
05:11I'm sick of him.
05:12Give me the numbers.
05:13I hate him to begin with.
05:14I'm sick of him.
05:15He's sick of him.
05:16There was one that was kind of chatty, I guess.
05:19Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith says he can't wait to put on a show against Notre Dame.
05:25He said they better be ready if they play man to man.
05:28So he's putting that out there.
05:29That's Notre Dame, by the way, the number one pass defense in the country this year.
05:36The Notre Dame fighting Irish.
05:37So let's go, Smith.
05:39Let's do it then.
05:41They better worry about him because he's a special talent.
05:44There's no doubt that he can roast him tonight.
05:46He's a real worry for me.
05:48Obviously, if Notre Dame stops him, Notre Dame wins the game.