Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman's message after terror attack postpones Sugar Bowl
01/02/2025 01:37 PM
In a society such as the one we live in, where sport — and particularly football — is engrained into fabric of our culture, it’s easy to forget about everything else until everything else puts an abrupt stop to sport. One of the most unforgettable moments of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic is when the NCAA Tournament was cancelled. The same could be said when the NFL postponed games following the 9/11 attacks. And now, with the College Football Playoff matchup between Notre Dame and Georgia being postponed from January 1st to January 2nd following terror attacks in New Orleans, it’s happened once again.
Following an act of terror on Bourbon Street in New Orleans in the early hours of January 1st that killed at least 15 innocent people and injured dozens more, it was determined that the Sugar Bowl showdown between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Georgia Bulldogs, which was originally scheduled for an evening kickoff on New Year’s Day, would be postponed by a day. And predictably, nobody on either side of the matchup had any issues with this being the decision.
On Wednesday night, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman explained what transpired earlier in the day when his team had their first meeting following the tragedy on Bourbon Street.
“The first part of that meeting was to mourn and pray for our country,” Freeman told Scott Van Pelt, per David Hale of ESPN. “But the end of the meeting was to redirect our focus to preparing for this game. We have to understand there’s a game to play and an opportunity for both programs to play in the college football quarterfinals and we have to make sure we’re ready.”
How both Notre Dame and Georgia will respond coming out of the gate remains to be seen, but Freeman said he does expect that both programs, and the rest of the nation, would be ready to rally together.
“In the toughest moments, the culture of any program, of a nation, are revealed. I have a lot of faith we’re going to rally around the city of New Orleans,” Freeman said.
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