Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman joining ‘College GameDay’ as guest analyst for national championship

Notre Dame was infamously omitted from the 2025 College Football Playoff, preventing them from the chance to win a national championship.

However, their head coach will still be there when the champion is crowned.

Before the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship game between the Indiana Hoosiers and Miami Hurricanes, the final College GameDay of the season will be live from Miami starting at 5 p.m. ET. While all of the usual suspects will be on hand, including host Rece Davis and analysts Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee, and Nick Saban, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman will be a special guest analyst as well.

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman will be joining GameDay as a guest analyst for the national championship 👏 pic.twitter.com/5pAILNXQwa

— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) January 16, 2026

Freeman is a savvy pick for several reasons. First and foremost, he has insight into Miami, which defeated Notre Dame early in the season. As a successful college football coach who led his team to the national title game last season, he can offer his own informed analysis of what it will take for the Canes or Hoosiers to succeed.

Aside from that, Freeman’s name has been at the top of many NFL coaching search rumors and reports. This gives him the opportunity to comment on the speculation and put any concerns to bed (or conversely, keep the door open).

And of course, there was much drama around the CFP committee’s decision to snub Notre Dame from this year’s playoff. The move shocked Freeman and his players, prompting the school to launch a scorched-earth campaign to punish the ACC and CFP for the slight. Cooler heads have since prevailed, but Freeman will have the chance to talk about where Notre Dame’s head is at now after opting out of a bowl game and looking ahead to the 2026 season.