"A schedule that is truly Coast to Coast" - When Marcus Freeman revealed biggest advantage of Notre Dame being independent

Despite losing the national championship game last Monday, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish under coach Marcus Freeman still bagged $20 million from the college football playoff. Furthermore, the Fighting Irish won't have to share the pot due to their independent status like eventual champions, the Ohio State Buckeyes who will end up with $2.56 million after sharing the pot with Big Ten conference opponents.

During a 2022 segment of the "Dan Patrick Show," Freeman revealed the biggest advantage of the Fighting Irish's lucrative independent status in college football (3:55).

"I think you get to play a schedule that is truly coast to coast and that's what makes us unique," Freeman said. "And you feel like you have a great opportunity every year to make the playoffs as long as you win the games that you have to win. And it gives these young people exposure. You're all over the country and you play great opponents every week.

"I told our A.D., you let us know who we're playing and we'll be ready to go. Our athletic director and our president have done an unbelievable job at continuing to help this program be at the forefront of college football and athletics and I really rely on them to make those big decisions about conferences and make those decisions about opponents and those things and my job and my focus is to get this team ready."

Notre Dame holding onto independent status

Before the national championship game against eventual champions, the Ohio State Buckeyes, Notre Dame Fighting Irish athletic director Pete Bevacqua broke down the program's stance on staying independent in the future.

"We're comfortable that if conference championship games continue as they're currently configured, part of the deal we made is that we wouldn't get a bye, and that's understandable," Bevacqua said. "And quite frankly, I wouldn't trade that [first-round] Indiana game at Notre Dame Stadium for anything in the world, but you also have to be smart and strategic, and your odds of making a national championship game are increased if you get to play one less game.

"So I think a lot is going to depend on the fate of the conference championship games," he said. "Should they go away? And that's obviously not my decision. Should they be altered in some sort of material way where it's not the top two teams playing for a championship, but something else? Then I think we absolutely have to re-look at Notre Dame's ability to get a bye if we end up being one of the top four teams."

The $20 million pot that Notre Dame got to keep for themselves from the 2024 college football playoff run to the national championship game will continue to act as a motivator for the Fighting Irish to retain their independent status.