He has spoken.

It's been more than a minute since we last heard from Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman, so there was no shortage of topics to talk on when he stepped to the front of the Notre Dame Stadium interview room on Wednesday, January 15.

Freeman talked of the end (for now) of the USC series. He talked of the NFL and his interest in maybe one day coaching at the game's highest level. He talked of the transfer portal. He talked of injuries. He talked of how the end of the 2025 season can fuel a deep run in 2026. We discuss all of it, and then end the Pod with a prediction for Monday's College Football Playoff championship game.

Hint: It won't be close.

We'll try, but we may mirror the College Football Playoff selection committee and fail miserably.

In our latest Pod of Gold, we attempt to make sense that like that, the Notre Dame football season for 2025 is officially over. No College Football Playoff run to a possible national championship. No bowl game. No nothing. All of it, over.

Who's at fault? Should fingers be pointed? Our crew of South Bend Tribune columnist Tom Noie and beat writer Mike Berardino and WNDU sports coordinator Jackson Neill try their best to figure out how what happened could happen and what it all means moving forward.

Short answer - watch out college football in 2026, Notre Dame is coming.

We're done.

With the regular season. With the College Football Playoff rankings shows over those four Tuesday nights in November and December. All that's left is Championship Saturday and Selection Sunday.

What does that mean for projected No. 10 seed Notre Dame? Are the Irish comfortably in the field of 12? Do they need to sweat Sunday? Do they need help from a team here or a team there? We discuss what Selection Sunday might have in store for Notre Dame, which closed the regular season with 10-straight wins each by at least 10 points. We discuss (sigh) the case for Miami (Fla.) which handed Notre Dame one of its two losses.

We'll also (briefly) review the Stanford game, touch on Notre Dame football's recruiting class on signing day and offer a Pod of Bold statement on whether Notre Dame will be in the 12-team playoff field, and what seed to expect.

At that point, the Pod of Gold will be done. Except for the wondering. Have the Irish done enough?