Marcus Freeman explains why he is against calling late game 'garbage time'

By the latter stages of the second quarter, there was not much doubt between Arkansas and Notre Dame. The Irish were going to hop on the plane back home with a big-time win for the program. Marcus Freeman got the opportunity to pull his starters in the second half and play some backups.

However, Freeman will never refer to that period of a blowout as “garbage time.” A common term used to describe an already decided game, the approach from Freeman is a little different. His goal is to make sure second-string players perform at just as high a level.

“Please don’t call it garbage time to me,” Freeman said. “Every play is important, man. Every single play is important… If any of our guys had the mindset of ‘This is garbage time,’ then they don’t understand they’re being evaluated the same way the starters are. It’s important that they have that mindset because we’re going to hold you, that second group, to the standard we hold the first group to. That’s the only way to do it… This is game reps, man. You are not guaranteed a lot of these. Go make the most of them.”

This mini-rant from Freeman came due to a question about second-year defensive lineman Cole Mullins. Not much shows up on the stat sheet for Mullins, with only one deflected pass. However, the reporter wanted to know what Freeman thought of Mullins’ run out there against Arkansas.

“He is a high-motor guy,” Freeman said. “He plays extremely hard… Getting better with some technique, some size. Guys that play the game really, really hard, usually, are rewarded.”

As Freeman pointed out earlier, there are only eight more guaranteed games left on the schedule. Notre Dame appears to be more than on track to get to a bowl game, if not a great one. Winning out might even result in a second straight College Football Playoff appearance. Depth is key in those types of runs, something that can be developed through game reps.

Next up is Boise State, another team Notre Dame might be hoping to get second-string guys some game reps. This will be the first power conference team the Broncos face in 2025, another team that made a CFP run last season. We will have to wait and see how the contest shapes out but no matter what, Freeman will evaluate every play the same.