To say that the Marcus Freeman era of Notre Dame football has been interesting would be an understatement. There have been a lot of ups and downs in his short time at the helm. 

However, despite the fact that the team is 4-1 on the season, it feels like there has been more vitriol launched at the Irish head coach than previous seasons. One potential landmark he could hit this season is an indicator that Notre Dame fans might not be cutting nearly enough slack.

With the win over the Louisville Cardinals, the Notre Dame football head coach is just one game away from tying a rather impressive milestone. If he can pull it off, he’d be just the second coach in the program’s long and proud history to have 10 wins over ranked opponents in his first three years in the job.

The mark shows that while there have been some annoying slip ups against average at best teams, he’s doing some great work against top competition. It also shows that he might be the guy the Fighting Irish needs when it comes to trying to make the playoffs, even if it’s as a lower seed.

After the Louisville win, the school announced where Freeman stood among some of the giants of the program.

“The 31-24 victory for Notre Dame football over No. 15 Louisville is the ninth-ranked win of the Marcus Freeman era at Notre Dame. Only Frank Leahy (10 over his first three years) has more ranked wins as the Fighting Irish football coach in his first three years.”

Obviously, the margin for error if Freeman wants to make history is thin because of the team’s remaining schedule. It’s possible Navy could be ranked, should they keep winning by the time the two teams meet. 

Otherwise, the best chance for Notre Dame football to get another win over a ranked team will come on the last weekend of the Irish’s season when they face off against USC.