Notre Dame football head coach Marcus Freeman will hold his Monday press conference at 12:30 p.m. EST.

We'll have updates from his press conference posted in this thread while it's happening.

The live stream is available here:

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Does Angeli go to Rutgers?

Seems like it's a regional fit and they really need a QB. Does he get his degree in the spring?

Seemingly will be the Carr and Minchey competition next year.

When will the starting time for the USC game be posted. Thanks in advance.

This morning I came across these two ND stats.


1. So far, Marcus Freeman is 10-4 in games vs ranked teams with the Irish. Brian Kelly on the other hand is 4-9 vs ranked opponents since the move to LSU, a continuance of his underwater record vs top teams when at the helm in South Bend.

2. Over the past three years, ND ranks first against the spread.

If you look at his profile it says 5*

Big game BK at it again

The whole injury game of dodgeball with info is getting VERY old. The Zoom was cut off before Bill even got a chance to ask a question. No one in person at the game asked about King.

Live Stats: LINK

Could an 11-1 ND team be pushed out of playoffs especially if a much lower ranked team wins a conference championship and gets the automatic bid over a team considered better than ND

1. Tosh Baker. What stature. I completely get why was highly recruited.

2. Guerby looks impressive.

3. Number 72 has strong looking legs.

4. I don’t think the team though much of Virginia. When score remained tight, the team didn’t seem worried.

5. Kedren Young looks like a nightmare to tackle. Very thick lower body.

6. Tae Johnson looks long. If someone can look like a dude before doing much, Tae does.

In any event, I rarely get to see the team in person, let alone from the second row, so thought I would share.

Game story from Bill Bilinski:

From Matt Allocco’s 15-point first half performance to backup center’s Nikita Konstantynovskyi’s eight points and eight rebounds, to backup forward Burke Chebuhar’s nine points on 3-for-3 shooting on threes — all new members of the Irish roster — the options and depth for Shrewsberry appear real.

Assuming Notre Dame is ranked ahead of Alabama, Old Miss and Georgia this coming Tuesday, will the committee rank Alabama, Georgia and / or Ole Miss (assuming none of them win the SEC championship game) ahead of Notre Dame in the final rankings? I see some scenarios (ie. Jerry Palm CBS Sports) where Georgia and Ole Miss jump Notre Dame in the final rankings without making the SEC championship game. Also, Alabama would jump Notre Dame if they go to the SEC championship game win or lose. Notre Dame closes out with ranked Army and a USC team who is down this year. Georgia, Ole Miss and Alabama don’t play any ranked team to close out their regular season games.

Once again the offense Is pedestrian! There is no vertical passing game . And has not been one this entire season. When the ball is thrown too often it’s for two or three yards on a short crossing route or an outside break. If it’s first down it becomes second and 7 or 8 . If it’s second down and 7 it becomes 3 rd and 5 or 6 . Very frustrating.

With no dominant team this year, if ND hadn’t suffered the critical injuries to elite players at key spots (DE x2, CB, C & LT), how legit of a threat would the Irish be for a shot at the title? This defense is better than any I remember (I’m 48), and if you add 2 terrific pass rushers and an all-American corner back to it? Normally I’d say no but who exactly looks so dangerous this season that it’s not a realistic question? I think they could’ve made a very interesting run.

Edit: They still may make a run. But I think the key position losses to injury are too much to overcome to get through the playoff gauntlet.

@Eric Hansen and I discuss the biggest takeaways from No. 8 Notre Dame's 35-14 win over Virginia in Notre Dame Stadium.

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Notre Dame men's basketball is on the road for the first time this season with a 1 p.m. tip at Georgetown (2-0).

The Irish (2-0) survived a bit of a scare from Buffalo in an 86-77 home win on Monday. Now the Irish will test themselves against a Georgetown team that started the season with home wins over Lehigh (85-77) and Fairfield (69-57).

Georgetown has been led in scoring by freshman Thomas Sorber. The 6-foot-10 center has averaged 22.5 points and 11 rebounds in the first two games. Junior guard Jayden Epps put in 14.5 points per game with 4-of-10 shooting from 3. Graduate transfer Micah Peavy (6-8) has done a little bit of everything with 28 points, 10 steals, nine rebounds, seven assists and three blocks through two games.

Here are Notre Dame's stats through two games:



Notre Dame's starting lineup in the first two games have been the same: guards Markus Burton, Braeden Shrewsberry and Matt Allocco and forwards Tae Davis and Kebba Njie.

Tip: 1 p.m. EST
Watch: NBC
Listen: Notre Dame Radio Network
Follow: Live stats

Idiot from Louisville just got a 15 yard penalty with a second left. Tackles a guy, they are carried out of bounds then gets up and pushes the Stanford player after the play was over. Moves the ball up to a 57 yard attempt for FG. Then guy jumps off sides making it a 52 year field goal and kicker makes it to win the game…ball crawls over the field goal. Without either penalty goes to OT.

It's seemed fitting that Jack Kiser's impressive sack came in the fourth quarter of his 63rd game in a Notre Dame uniform. When he could have been soaking in Senior Day, he was out on the field fighting for more.

"Any time you step on the field in Notre Dame Stadium you’re gonna go all out," Kiser said. "That doesn’t change. That mindset doesn’t change."

Four Notre Dame players spoke to reporters following tonight's Notre Dame victory over Virginia: LB Jack Kiser, WR Jordan Faison, S Adon Shuler and RB Jeremiyah Love. We'll have transcripts from every player in this thread.

Answers are largely verbatim. Questions may have been edited for brevity and clarity.

JACK KISER

How does the defense feed off one big play from the next?

“It’s a lot of fun when you can have a lot of havoc on the ball. Certainly, tonight we were able to do that. Guys were flying around. Guys were seeing their keys and recognizing stuff and making plays on it. It just makes playing ball a lot of fun, and it makes you hungry to get back out there. When those short series happen, you want to get right back on the field. We were flying around having a lot of fun tonight for sure.”

What does the 63-game record mean to you? And how were you able to answer the bell 63 times?

“Kind of what you hinted to, it’s not easy. There’s a lot of people that go into me stepping on the field 63 times. The trainers, family, teammates, strength coaches, coaches in general — there’s a lot of people that play into that. That’s the best thing about this record. It’s not a me thing. It’s a we thing.

“But being able to suit up and go on that field and play with your brothers out there, that’s really important. To do that so many times, that’s an extreme honor. And to think about some of the guys I got to do it with. I know that Robert Hainsey got put up on the screen today, and guys were like, ‘Who’s that?’ But like I was on the scout team against him. Now it was really cool to see him come back and get up there. [Ian] Book was back today, and I know Sam [Hartman] was back. Seeing those guys come back and knowing I got to play with them and be a part of their story and they’re a part of my story, it’s been really special.

“Growing up an hour away, Notre Dame’s a super special place. To allow people to join in and experience this with me from back home, it’s been a big honor of mine.”

Was the record ever put on your radar at some point? Was it ever a motivating factor to you?

“It was brought up, I think, in camp. Then I really found out about it when I was doing a podcast with Coach Freeman about like, ‘Wow, I am actually within striking distance.’ It’s never a goal I set out for. I’m very fortunate to have the opportunity to be here a long time. Coach Freeman and the staff asked me to come back. That played a part in it. Just being able to do it, it’s cool to say that your name’s in the record book at Notre Dame, especially a prestigious program like this is. To be part of the history is extremely neat.”

You had a sack late where a blocker tried to take you out low and you kept going. Does knowing it could be your last game in Notre Dame Stadium give you extra juice to keep going late in a game like this?

“Any time you step on the field in Notre Dame Stadium you’re gonna go all out. That doesn’t change. That mindset doesn’t change. Just knowing that’s the type of player I am and I think that this defense is. You don’t stop on a play. You don’t quit on a play. Down-up is the way we call it as a linebacker. I got up and the guy was in front of me and I was able to make the tackle. I’m glad I could finish it this week. Last week I didn’t get to finish the sack. That was big time for me to get that one back.”

Any flashbacks to your high school days operating that fake punt?

“We’ve been working that a while. I kept reminding Coach Free, ‘Hey, I played triple-option quarterback in high school. I can do a reverse pivot.’ That’s something we practiced a lot. The reverse pivot blind handoff, that is a tough thing to do. I thought it worked really well. I don’t really know what the penalty was, but it was a lot of fun, one, practicing it, and getting to kinda relive those glory days back in high school.”

Is it just a bummer then when you see that flag? They took a long time to figure out what the penalty was.

“I don’t really know what happened. I just know I ran all the way down there, was freaking out, then I saw a flag and my heart sank. I don’t know. It was fun. It was certainly a fun play to do though.”

I know Coach Freeman preaches one play, one life. But now you’re two games from finishing the regular season. Can you block out what could possibly happen after that? Does your mind wander to playing a game in the snow here in December?

“You have to block it out. It’s one game, one life. One play, one life. The next two games are the biggest stretch of our lives. You gotta go all in no matter what. The future’s uncertain. Whatever happens happens. But knowing that you didn’t leave anything behind and you did everything you could, that has to be the mindset. We’ve been saying it on defense: all chips in. That’s just the mindset we have every day when we come to work. On a Tuesday, on a Wednesday — it doesn’t matter what day it is. You gotta be ready to give it your all, because you don’t know what the future holds.”

Transcript provided by ASAPSports. This has not yet been cleaned for errors.

MARCUS FREEMAN

Opening statement: “Yeah, any win, you know, it was a great win. A great team victory. It's what we as expired to do all week for our seniors on a Senior Night. This obviously isn't the end of our season but this is the night we said was going to be Senior Night and our last guaranteed opportunity for our seniors to play in this stadium.

So it was important for us to make sure that we achieved the team glory that we aspired to have I told them in the locker room, we'll fix the film. There's always plays to fix. We have to evaluate it and figure out the whys, and we will.

But enjoy this victory. Heal up. We've got to continue to improve as we go throughout the season. That's going to be the ultimate challenge is we can't look at outcomes. We can't. We've got to evaluate everything and continue to find ways to improve and get ready for our next opponent.

Q. I know you don't have a lot of time to reflect but when you think back to your first home game this season to where you are today, how do you assess the growth and development of your team?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Yeah, the first postgame press conference was a lot different than this one.

But it's just a testament to the work this group put in, and you know, the outcome of that game, you know, obviously made us feel a certain type of way in terms of what we have to do to improve.

But we've got to continue to look at the whys and what happened. That's what this group has been doing. Like trying to truly evaluate and have a sense of urgency to improve, and that's what I see from the start of that first postgame press conference to now is a group that has improved through experience, but also through intentional actions, and the result has been pretty good.

Q. Do you understand -- or what was the explanation on the fake punt?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Yeah, you know, it was really an interpretation of the rule, as I told them, obviously called down, let's just talk and get it figured out postgame in terms of how we interpret the rule. We were in shotgun, which we assume we are able to do, and they said no, you're not. You're not able to do that in the special teams formation we were in.

Listen, they have got a job to do, and you know, I might have disagreed at the moment, but I got the utmost respect for our officials.

Q. You guys forced five turnovers in the first half, one on special teams but the rest on defense. Regardless what the offense looks like in a given week or at a given point within that week, what does your defense allow you guys to do big picture?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Yeah, I think when you look at the big picture, it gives our entire program, all three phases, a chance to have success. When your defense is playing as well as we're playing, it allows you to still be in the game and be in a position to win, maybe when you weren't having the success you want offensively to start the game.

And so the defense is doing a heck of a job, and offense is doing a good job, man. We've just got toe eliminate some of those early game three-and-outs in situations where we are not moving chains as much as we want, and as you look at that, most of them come from penalties or negative yardage plays that we've just got to make sure that we clean up.

But yes, the defense is doing a heck of a job but I'm proud of all three phases.

Q. Do you think you'll play another game here this year?

MARCUS FREEMAN: What I think doesn't really matter, man. Like, let's go to work, right. Let's give this program a chance to play in this stadium one more time, right.

It doesn't matter what I think.

Q. When you were the defensive coordinator here and Watts made the flip over to defense, what did you see in him in those early days that led you to believe maybe he would be something close to what he is now?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Yeah, I didn't know, obviously, early in that change that he would be the player he is now. But you saw some flashes with the Navy game of 2021, and you saw some flashes. That was the first week he played safety.

And tracking a ball tackler and closing space, a lot of times it's natural instincts, and he's a guy that showed in that game, man, he's a guy that can track the ball and make some plays that we didn't have. To see the development from that point to where he's at now to be one of the best players in the country, it's a testament to his God-given ability, but the work he's put into it. He's put a tremendous amount work into becoming the player he is now.

Q. I know the whys are a lot easier when you've seen film on Sundays. Weird statistical game. You guys were so good on first and second down. One third down conversion, and a bunch of penalties. Do you have any clue on the whys?

MARCUS FREEMAN: There's obviously some that are obvious, some of the holding penalties we can't hold. We have to be better. We can't put our offense behind the sticks, right, behind the chains. That's the thing that stuck out to me more than anything is that we were in a lot of third and long situations. The percentage of converting those are not good, no matter who you are.

And so what we've got to do is a better job of putting our offense in better third-down situations, and that means no penalties, and that means, you know, continue having positive plays and not negative yardage plays. That's going to be crucial as we move forward.

Q. You mentioned having to calm down after the fake punt fiasco. Have you ever been that heated as a football coach in a game, and what is it like as a relatively young coach to come down from that and keep coaching? Because obviously there's a football game left to play.

MARCUS FREEMAN: I've been heated plenty of times. Maybe not displayed it like that. You know what, it's like you tell your players, you've got to reload, right. No matter what happened the last play, you've got to move forward. And I probably took a little bit longer than I should have. It's not a great example for your players.

You've got to be able to -- you might be frustrated, say whatever you had to say. Most the time I was trying to get interpretation of, hey, this is what we did, what's your interpretation.

But you have to emotionally get yourself under control because you've got a job to do, right. We were still in a two-minute situation that do we want to call time and all those things.

So you have to make sure, man, you control your emotions and really get focused on this play because that play, they called it. You've got to move on, right. Doesn't matter if you like the call or not. You have to move forward. That's most important.

Q. For the defense to respond to that the way it did, taking the ball away, and the offense punching it in, what did that say about your performance?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Huge. It was almost a spark. I think -- I can't remember Faison or somebody had a long play on offense that got called back. Jayden Harrison, right. And then Faison goes and he scores on that fake punt. He gets called back.

You know, and it's just like a spark. Our defense gets a takeaway. I think it was Don or Leonard, we go and we score. Then we get another takeaway, and we go an we score. That was huge. That was huge to win the half.

But my message tonight, we can't wait for a spark. The sense of urgency has to be from play one to the end of the game. That's what we have to make sure we continue to do.

Q. After the pick and then you guys punch it in in that situation after the fake punt was wipe out, it felt like the crowd was really into it, too, with you guys. What's it like in a moment like that when you can maybe feel your crowd and your team really being connected there?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Yeah, it's special. That's why you love playing at home. You can definitely feed off the emotions from the crowd. I think it's contagious. I think everybody was emotional but in the right mindset after that play.

So it's contagious. We continue to feed the emotion with success, and it was a good moment.

Q. Your program right now, how connected do you feel all three phases with what you guys are doing on and off the field?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Yeah, I mean, the two stats we look at most to look at how well we are playing complementary football is the battle of field position and turnover margin.

We have not lost a turnover margin other than one game a year, and that was Northern Illinois. And we've won the battle of field position I think almost in every game we play. I have to go back and look.

But we'll see what it was today, but that's what complementary football is, is turnover margin and the battle of field position because that includes all three phases.

Q. I believe today you are now No. 1 in the country in pass efficiency defense, which you were last year. You lose Benjamin Morrison; can you give us a macro sense of why the pass defense is as good as it is?

MARCUS FREEMAN: I think we do some good things schematically. Coach Golden and the defense really do some really good things with getting pressure up front. Like there's a lot of things that go into the what. I just told them before the game, we all like to look at the what. You've got the No. 1 pass defense in the country. We evaluate the whys which to me there's more than just pass rush. There's coverage, the change ups, the players that we have. All those things go into the what, right. All those things go into the what, which is having a really good pass defense.

I don't even know if we have enough time for me to list the whys. I gave you some big picture whys but there's a lot of reasons. I go back to the scout team, right. The look that our scout team gives us that challenges us in practice.

So we know if we are not exactly where we need to be, we are going to get exposed. There's a whole bunch of things that go into that but starts with really good players and a really good coaching staff.