Marcus Freeman isn’t hiding from the road test ahead. If anything, the Notre Dame coach is leaning into it.
With No. 2 Notre Dame set to visit No. 8 BYU on Saturday night in the first top-10 matchup ever held at LaVell Edwards Stadium, Freeman said this week that big road games are part of what the program stands for.
"This is what Notre Dame football does, we go into different places and it's a big game," Freeman said. "That's why we're here, why we chose to come to Notre Dame. We love it, I love it, they love it."
The timing of those comments is hard to ignore, because Freeman’s most recent trip to a ranked opponent ended in disappointment. Last year, No.
10 Miami beat No. 6 Notre Dame 27-24 at Hard Rock Stadium, rallying late after the Irish had erased a 21-7 deficit to tie the game.
Carter Davis drilled a 47-yard field goal with just over a minute left, and the loss helped send Notre Dame to a 10-2 finish without a College Football Playoff berth.
That defeat also sits inside a larger road résumé that Freeman has been building at Notre Dame. He is 4-4 in true road games against AP top-25 opponents during his time as head coach.
The losses came at No. 2 Ohio State in the 2022 season opener, at No.
5 USC later that season, at No. 25 Louisville in 2023 and at No.
10 Miami to open the 2025 season. The wins have come at No.
16 Syracuse in 2022, No. 17 Duke in 2023, No.
20 Texas A&M in 2024 and No. 23 Pitt in 2025.
Still, the Irish haven’t won a true road game against a top-10 opponent since beating No. 8 Oklahoma in 2012. That run now includes seven straight losses in those situations, and three of them have come under Freeman.
The BYU trip gives Notre Dame a fresh shot at changing that narrative. Freeman has described the matchup in Provo as, on paper, the best opponent Notre Dame has faced this season. The Irish have not played a ranked team in their first six games, and they have not had the Miami rematch yet.
There are signs Freeman’s teams have been even tougher in bigger stages when neutral-site games are included. Notre Dame won three College Football Playoff games in 2024, starting with a home win over No.
10 Indiana in the first round, then beating No. 2 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl and No.
5 Penn State in the Orange Bowl before losing to Ohio State in the national championship game.
His teams have also picked up ranked wins at home against No. 5 Clemson in 2022, No.
10 USC in 2023 and No. 20 USC in 2025.
Both teams arrive with plenty on the line. BYU is 5-0 and led by sophomore quarterback Bear Bachmeier, while Notre Dame has strung together 16 straight double-digit wins, a streak that began with a 56-30 win over Purdue on Sept. 20, 2025.
And both programs know what it felt like to be left out a year ago. Notre Dame finished 10-2 and missed the College Football Playoff. BYU went 11-2, lost in the Big 12 championship game, then won its bowl game to finish 12-2.
A win in Provo would give Freeman his first top-10 road victory as Notre Dame’s coach and strengthen the Irish’s CFP case with home games against Miami and SMU still ahead. A loss would put Notre Dame in must-win territory for its Nov. 7 matchup against Miami.
In Other News...
Former Miami Tight End Could Soon Shake Up The Big Ten Race
Alex Baumans path from Miami to Michigan took another turn this week after the former Hurricanes tight end won a legal injunction that allowed him to enter the transfer portal and head to the Wolverines. For a Michigan team looking for answers on offense, the timing matters. The Wolverines have been trying to stabilize a unit that has not found its footing, and adding Bauman gives them another piece to work with as they try to sharpen that side of the ball.
Michigan plans to bring Bauman in along with another player, and his debut is expected soon. For Miami fans, it is another reminder of how quickly a former player can surface in a new conference and potentially matter in a big way. For the Wolverines, it is less about the headline and more about whether Bauman can help provide the kind of boost their offense has been missing as the Big Ten race tightens. [Read more 🡒]
Miami Defense Has Florida State Facing A Dangerous Quarterback Problem
Florida State arrives with a quarterback who can make things interesting in a hurry, and Ashton Daniels has already shown why. According to Pro Football Focus, he has the longest average time to throw in the country at 3.63 seconds, a style that can create explosive plays but also leaves plenty of room for sacks and interceptions when the pocket starts to close. For Miami, that kind of quarterback profile is familiar territory, because this defense has long been built to punish hesitation and force offenses to live with the consequences.
Daniels tendency to hold the ball puts the Seminoles in a tricky spot against a Hurricanes front that has historically done a good job of shrinking the impact of quarterbacks who need extra time. Miami has been especially effective at limiting those passers both through the air and on the ground, and that makes the matchup feel less about flash and more about who blinks first. If Daniels is forced into long-developing reads again, the Hurricanes will like their chances of turning pressure into problems. [Read more 🡒]
Miami Heads Into Florida State With One Big Protection Concern
Miami is getting ready to host Florida State in a rivalry game that always seems to bring a little extra edge, but this week the conversation around Coral Gables has centered as much on health as on matchup prep. Malachi Toney is dealing with a shoulder injury, and the offensive line picture has been complicated further by Max Buchanans surgery, leaving protection as a clear point of concern heading into a game where pass rush pressure can quickly change everything.
The encouraging news for Miami is that the secondary has started to get some bodies back, and the defense still enters this one ranked among the nations best. Even so, the Hurricanes know that against Florida State, the line of scrimmage can dictate the night, and how well they hold up up front may end up being the difference between controlling the rivalry and spending the evening on the back foot. [Read more 🡒]