"I had a hard time breathing the next two quarters": Urban Meyer relives fake punt trauma after Marcus Freeman's bold call

On Thursday, Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish defeated the Georgia Bulldogs 23–10 in the Sugar Bowl. The Fighting Irish were creative in their playcalling during the game, making some interesting calls. Marcus Freeman used unique play-calling early in the game to put the Bulldogs on the back foot. The team called a successful fake punt in the first quarter to give it momentum.

On Saturday, former college football coach Urban Meyer appeared on "The Triple Option" podcast and spoke about Notre Dame's play. Meyer is an experienced coach who won three national championships with Ohio State and Florida. He could relate to Marcus Freeman and his brave playcalling.

Meyer praised Marcus Freeman and his team on the podcast for their gutsy play and relived a time when he made a fake punt call.

"You can practice that all you want, to have the balls to call that, at that moment," he said. (19:15) "Because you miss that Rob you're out of the profession and you gotta walk in front of the team after a loss and say I did that.

We ran a fake punt against the Wolverines in 2016 because we were not moving the ball and it didn't work and they scored. I had a hard time breathing the next two quarters because I thought was gonna have to look my team in the eyes and say I lost us that game, not you guys, I did. Wow."

Marcus Freeman has brought the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to the next level

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have always had a competitive football team. During Brian Kelly's tenure as coach from 2010 to 2021, the team only had one losing season and seven years of at least 10 wins. However, with their win over Georgia, the Fighting Irish secured their 13th win of the year, the most in team history.

In his three seasons as coach, Marcus Freeman has led his team to a bowl game every year and won it. This season, his team is still in contention to win the national championship and has only lost one game. His squad will face the Penn State Nittany Lions in the College Football Playoff semifinals on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET.