Marcus Freeman is doing everything he can to keep the intensity up for No. 9 Notre Dame.

The Fighting Irish (8-2) have two games remaining in the regular season. Both will come against teams with losing records, starting with Saturday afternoon's matchup vs. Syracuse (3-7) in South Bend, Ind.

Freeman wants his players to stay focused on the upcoming game and take nothing for granted. He also wants them to ignore chatter about the College Football Playoff as much as possible.

"Every test as we continue to move forward will be tougher," Freeman said. "Every one. It's not always the record of the opponent, but there's also the added human element of the outside noise of playoffs, the outside noise of maybe this team's record isn't (impressive).

"That's a challenge, right? That's why I say

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