Marcus Freeman of Notre Dame football clarifies his remarks on Ohio State

Marcus Freeman, who is the head coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, had to take back something he said about Ohio State and Cincinnati’s academics.

Freeman was not necessarily wrong in his commentary, which claimed that academics matter far more at schools like Notre Dame than Ohio State, even as it pertains to the athletic department.

“If you don’t go to class [at places like that], OK, take some online classes, show up for your appointments,” Freeman said, per ESPN. “At Notre Dame, you’re forced every day to go to class.”

Freeman worked at OSU and Cincinnati previously, and appeared to take a shot at the programs.

Notre Dame football: Marcus Freeman clarified his comments

On Wednesday, Freeman pulled back some of those remarks, and for good reason: taking attacks like that might backfire, especially if Notre Dame falters.

“When Marcus Freeman says, ‘You don’t go to class at a place like that,’ it changes the entire narrative,” Freeman told WBNS.

“When you really look, what exactly I said, I was talking about if you don’t go to class at these big schools that have 60,000, 40,000 students, OK, you can take online classes.

We can’t. The majority of our kids cannot take online classes here because it’s a smaller school and you’re forced to have in-class attendance. That’s what I wanted to get cleared up.”

Fair enough.

Freeman isn’t one to burn bridges, especially when it comes to programs where he has worked. When you consider that Notre Dame’s first game is against Ohio State, you might want to put out the fires before they reach Columbus.

But if you know Ryan Day, you won’t be surprised if he puts up Freeman’s words on a bulletin board in early September.