Marcus Freeman record vs Navy, Army: How Notre Dame coach has fared vs service academies
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In his first three full seasons as Notre Dame’s football coach, Marcus Freeman has lived up to, if not outright exceeded, the promise and excitement that greeted his tenure.
Entering his team’s Week 11 game, Freeman has gone 39-12 with the Fighting Irish, giving him an identical win percentage to Lou Holtz, the coach who last won a national championship at the school. Last season, Freeman helped lead Notre Dame to the championship game of the College Football Playoff, where it came just shy of knocking off Ohio State for its first national title in 36 years.
In a bit of schadenfreude for Irish fans, he has managed to do all that while his predecessor, Brian Kelly, struggled to break through at LSU, where he was fired last month, eight games into his fourth season at the school.
Notre Dame is yet again in the thick of the playoff hunt, with a 6-2 record entering a matchup on Saturday, Nov. 8 against Navy.
While the Midshipmen are a quality opponent with a 7-1 record, their presence on the schedule is a welcome one for the Irish.
Among the many areas in which Freeman has excelled at Notre Dame is against the service academies the Irish regularly face. Notre Dame is 4-0 against Navy and Army since Freeman was promoted from defensive coordinator after the 2021 season, with several of those victories coming in lopsided fashion.
As the Irish prepare for their game against Navy, here’s a look at Freeman’s track record against service academies:
Marcus Freeman vs service academies
Eight games into his fourth season at Notre Dame, Freeman is 4-0 against service academies, with three wins against Navy and one against Army.
After a narrow 35-32 win against Navy in his first season, Freeman’s Irish teams haven’t just beaten service academies, but drubbed them. In their past three meetings with service academies — two games against Navy, one against Army — Notre Dame has won by a combined score of 142-31. None of the contests was decided by fewer than 37 points.
The squads they’ve beaten haven’t all been patsies, either. The Navy team Notre Dame beat by 37 in 2024 went 10-3 and was ranked No. 24 in the country at the time. One month later, it won by 35 against a previously undefeated Army team that was ranked No. 17 at the time of the game.
Here’s a look at Notre Dame’s results against service academies under Freeman:
- Nov. 12, 2022: No. 25 Notre Dame 35, Navy 32
- Aug. 26, 2023: No. 13 Notre Dame 42, Navy 3
- Oct. 26, 2024: No. 11 Notre Dame 51, No. 24 Navy 14
- Nov. 23, 2024: No. 6 Notre Dame 49, No. 17 Army 14
Notre Dame record vs Navy
Notre Dame is 83-13-1 all-time against Navy in a series dating all the way back to 1927. The Irish have won seven in a row and 12 of the past 13 against the Midshipmen.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: How has Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman fared vs Navy, Army?
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