Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman met with the media following a 31-13 win over the 12th-ranked Irish over Georgia Tech at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Here's everything he had to say. Answers are largely verbatim. Questions may have been edited for brevity and clarity.
OPENING STATEMENT
“Great team win. I told coach [Brent] Key after the game, I've got a lot of respect for that program. They’ve done a heck of a job in terms of where they've gotten this program to, [how] they played today. They play with a physicality and an edge that I’ve got a lot of respect for. But our guys play well. If you look at the overall picture, it's probably the way they responded when you go down 7-0. They were able to respond defensively, made the corrections necessary. And offensively, really got it rolling those last two drives of the first half. And so continued to build on that momentum as we got into the second half. So, overall, man, everybody had a part of it. There's no one person that you try to give to success and point out. It's a group effort, that it took everybody in that room to get their job done to achieve the team glory that we aspire to have on Saturday. So, with that I’ll open it up for questions.”
Q: How has it happened that you’ve fallen behind four games in a row, but from there you clearly assert yourself as a better football team?
“As you look at the big picture, you say you start slow and you respond. You’ve just got to continue to evaluate the plays. I think the first series, defensively, we had an MA [missed assignment] on third down. We didn’t execute on that play, which led to some other things, and they ended up scoring. Offensively, I can't remember the first drive, but then we throw the interception. And it's plays that we have to clean up, no matter when they happen in a game. But this group just continues to believe. I told them, man, it's life, man. I showed them a race of a girl running the 100-meter hurdles. And she fell over the second hurdle, and gets back up and wins. And it's like, that's life. Like, that's a week of prep. I mean, it's a game. It's a season. Like, you're going to hit some hurdles, and you’ve got to get up and sprint through the finish line. And that's what they did.”
Q: What went into the outstanding special teams play today and how good were you guys there?
“I thought we did a great job on field goal block. We got a lot of push there. And I think that was Bryce Young that got the field goal block. We knew going into this game we had to steal some possessions, because they [the Yellow Jackets] do a really good job in terms of time of possession. I think we had four series in the first half. We didn't have a chance to run it — the fake — in the first half, because it was more about trying to steal a possession than it was something we saw in their punt return unit. And so, we did that. The field goal fake was something we practiced. We thought they were pretty aggressive on their field goal block unit. And, it wasn't perfect. We found a way to get first down, but that was the mindset going to the game. We had to steal some possessions.”
Q: What happened on the Riley Leonard interception that he threw? And why was he able to bounce back and complete 12 passes in a row after that?
“He made a bad decision. He'll be the first one to tell you that's what happened. He reloaded and came back with the right mindset. Those things happen. Didn't read it the right way and made a bad decision. But he's confident. That's a part of the game, that you’ve got to be confident in your decisions, even if sometimes they can be wrong. Because there are other times you made a wrong decision, and it ended up being a great play, because he made it fast. And so, he's a confident individual because of the way he prepares. And he did a great job after that interception of leading our offense.”
Q: Interceptions for Xavier Watson, Adon Schuler, today. There's been so much change at the cornerback position throughout the season, has the play of those safeties allowed you guys to sort of work through everything at the cornerback position as well?
“Yeah, it's the play of the guys that are in the game. They’ve got a lot of confidence, man. This is a young team, kind of, now with some injuries, but we're confident in the guys that we put on the field. They just need the opportunity, and sometimes it takes an injury or something else to happen to put those guys out there. But Xavier has done a great job all year down. Adon has done a great job all year. But those guys that have stepped on the field have really stepped up and done a great job.”
Q: Zach Pyron started 9-for-9, and then from there you shut down their dangerous wideouts. You shut the running game down. Could you speak to the defensive performance in going against a good offensive line too?
“He's a good quarterback. Watching film, we thought he was more convicted in his decision-making, like he just made decisions. He was throwing into tight windows. And that could be a good and a bad thing, but we thought he was a really good thrower and he could run the ball if he needed to. He's a good player. And he did a good job to start the game. We made some adjustments, trying to figure out what they were going to do offensively. They've shown some different things throughout the season, and we just wanted to see what they were going to settle into. And we tried to mix up some coverages. So, the defense did a great job of adjusting. And when they've done that, coach [Al] Golden has done an amazing job of doing that all season long — adjustments. We've seen some different things that we haven't prepared for, and so the ability to make adjustments has been huge.”
Q: To lose a guy like Ben Morrison and then have to plug a freshman in, nobody wants to lose an All-American. But it's a rarity, is it not, to see a freshman play to the level that Leonard Moore is already?
“Yeah. He's special. Like I said, you can't make up for the loss of Benjamin Morrison with one person, but he still continues to lead. He was watching film, giving our guys coaching points in the hospital. I mean, that's the type of guy he is. He's sending them film — really, the young guys, Karson [Hobbs] and Leonard. Like, coaching them up, and that's what type of leader and person he is. We can't replace him with one guy, but dang, Leonard has done a great job. But we knew Leonard was special from the time he got on campus. It's just when was he going to get his opportunity to really present himself? Because Christian Gray's a really good football player. Benjamin Morrison's a really good football player. But this is a long season. It's a long season, and one guarantee in life is that the future’s uncertain. So, just keep preparing. Take care of the opportunity out in front of yourself, and then you get an opportunity to do in front of thousands of millions of people, and you're ready to perform like Leonard is.”
Q: Even though this team has gotten younger in some ways, does it still feel like it's maturing? Does it feel older and younger somewhat at the same time?
“Yeah. The people are, at times, inexperienced, but the team is becoming more and more experienced together. And that's when you take a big-picture look at the performance, like this team is continuously getting better. And I challenge [them]. You’ve got to believe that there's another level. If you believe that, you'll be willing to put in the work. And I really think this is a reflection — I believe, I choose to believe — it's a reflection of the preparation. And I'll always believe that. Performance on Saturday, it's never perfect. We want to be perfect, but it's a reflection of the way you prepare. And so, we — as coaches — are going to continuously challenge them that there's more. There is no finish line to the way we prepare and how we prepare. That's going to give us a chance to be more experienced on Saturdays and perform better.”
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OPENING STATEMENT
“Great team win. I told coach [Brent] Key after the game, I've got a lot of respect for that program. They’ve done a heck of a job in terms of where they've gotten this program to, [how] they played today. They play with a physicality and an edge that I’ve got a lot of respect for. But our guys play well. If you look at the overall picture, it's probably the way they responded when you go down 7-0. They were able to respond defensively, made the corrections necessary. And offensively, really got it rolling those last two drives of the first half. And so continued to build on that momentum as we got into the second half. So, overall, man, everybody had a part of it. There's no one person that you try to give to success and point out. It's a group effort, that it took everybody in that room to get their job done to achieve the team glory that we aspire to have on Saturday. So, with that I’ll open it up for questions.”
Q: How has it happened that you’ve fallen behind four games in a row, but from there you clearly assert yourself as a better football team?
“As you look at the big picture, you say you start slow and you respond. You’ve just got to continue to evaluate the plays. I think the first series, defensively, we had an MA [missed assignment] on third down. We didn’t execute on that play, which led to some other things, and they ended up scoring. Offensively, I can't remember the first drive, but then we throw the interception. And it's plays that we have to clean up, no matter when they happen in a game. But this group just continues to believe. I told them, man, it's life, man. I showed them a race of a girl running the 100-meter hurdles. And she fell over the second hurdle, and gets back up and wins. And it's like, that's life. Like, that's a week of prep. I mean, it's a game. It's a season. Like, you're going to hit some hurdles, and you’ve got to get up and sprint through the finish line. And that's what they did.”
Q: What went into the outstanding special teams play today and how good were you guys there?
“I thought we did a great job on field goal block. We got a lot of push there. And I think that was Bryce Young that got the field goal block. We knew going into this game we had to steal some possessions, because they [the Yellow Jackets] do a really good job in terms of time of possession. I think we had four series in the first half. We didn't have a chance to run it — the fake — in the first half, because it was more about trying to steal a possession than it was something we saw in their punt return unit. And so, we did that. The field goal fake was something we practiced. We thought they were pretty aggressive on their field goal block unit. And, it wasn't perfect. We found a way to get first down, but that was the mindset going to the game. We had to steal some possessions.”
Q: What happened on the Riley Leonard interception that he threw? And why was he able to bounce back and complete 12 passes in a row after that?
“He made a bad decision. He'll be the first one to tell you that's what happened. He reloaded and came back with the right mindset. Those things happen. Didn't read it the right way and made a bad decision. But he's confident. That's a part of the game, that you’ve got to be confident in your decisions, even if sometimes they can be wrong. Because there are other times you made a wrong decision, and it ended up being a great play, because he made it fast. And so, he's a confident individual because of the way he prepares. And he did a great job after that interception of leading our offense.”
Q: Interceptions for Xavier Watson, Adon Schuler, today. There's been so much change at the cornerback position throughout the season, has the play of those safeties allowed you guys to sort of work through everything at the cornerback position as well?
“Yeah, it's the play of the guys that are in the game. They’ve got a lot of confidence, man. This is a young team, kind of, now with some injuries, but we're confident in the guys that we put on the field. They just need the opportunity, and sometimes it takes an injury or something else to happen to put those guys out there. But Xavier has done a great job all year down. Adon has done a great job all year. But those guys that have stepped on the field have really stepped up and done a great job.”
Q: Zach Pyron started 9-for-9, and then from there you shut down their dangerous wideouts. You shut the running game down. Could you speak to the defensive performance in going against a good offensive line too?
“He's a good quarterback. Watching film, we thought he was more convicted in his decision-making, like he just made decisions. He was throwing into tight windows. And that could be a good and a bad thing, but we thought he was a really good thrower and he could run the ball if he needed to. He's a good player. And he did a good job to start the game. We made some adjustments, trying to figure out what they were going to do offensively. They've shown some different things throughout the season, and we just wanted to see what they were going to settle into. And we tried to mix up some coverages. So, the defense did a great job of adjusting. And when they've done that, coach [Al] Golden has done an amazing job of doing that all season long — adjustments. We've seen some different things that we haven't prepared for, and so the ability to make adjustments has been huge.”
Q: To lose a guy like Ben Morrison and then have to plug a freshman in, nobody wants to lose an All-American. But it's a rarity, is it not, to see a freshman play to the level that Leonard Moore is already?
“Yeah. He's special. Like I said, you can't make up for the loss of Benjamin Morrison with one person, but he still continues to lead. He was watching film, giving our guys coaching points in the hospital. I mean, that's the type of guy he is. He's sending them film — really, the young guys, Karson [Hobbs] and Leonard. Like, coaching them up, and that's what type of leader and person he is. We can't replace him with one guy, but dang, Leonard has done a great job. But we knew Leonard was special from the time he got on campus. It's just when was he going to get his opportunity to really present himself? Because Christian Gray's a really good football player. Benjamin Morrison's a really good football player. But this is a long season. It's a long season, and one guarantee in life is that the future’s uncertain. So, just keep preparing. Take care of the opportunity out in front of yourself, and then you get an opportunity to do in front of thousands of millions of people, and you're ready to perform like Leonard is.”
Q: Even though this team has gotten younger in some ways, does it still feel like it's maturing? Does it feel older and younger somewhat at the same time?
“Yeah. The people are, at times, inexperienced, but the team is becoming more and more experienced together. And that's when you take a big-picture look at the performance, like this team is continuously getting better. And I challenge [them]. You’ve got to believe that there's another level. If you believe that, you'll be willing to put in the work. And I really think this is a reflection — I believe, I choose to believe — it's a reflection of the preparation. And I'll always believe that. Performance on Saturday, it's never perfect. We want to be perfect, but it's a reflection of the way you prepare. And so, we — as coaches — are going to continuously challenge them that there's more. There is no finish line to the way we prepare and how we prepare. That's going to give us a chance to be more experienced on Saturdays and perform better.”
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