Notre Dame football head coach Marcus Freeman spoke to reporters following Notre Dame 49-14 win over Army. A transcript of that press conference is below.
Answers are largely verbatim. Questions may have been edited for brevity and clarity.
MARCUS FREEMAN
“I’m really proud of the performance. You never know how this game’s gonna go. We knew we were preparing for a really good opponent. The preparation this week was really good. It was really good. The challenge of beating that team in the turnover margin, who’s top three or whatever in the country. To be able to get that done, I really think it had an impact on the game. It really did. Guys battled. They played well versus a really good team, and they battled. We’re going to enjoy this victory. We’ll get back, we’ll watch it and evaluate it and move forward. A really good performance both offensively and defensively. I’m really proud of the way they prepared and performed.”
On a day that three teams in the top nine of the College Football Playoff rankings lost, you faced an undefeated team and came out with a win. What kind of message did Notre Dame football send today?
“I’ve always said that’s for you all and everybody else to interpret the message that’s sent. There’s one goal on Saturdays, and that’s to achieve team glory. The way you prepare gives you the best opportunity to do that. That’s the message that I want our players to understand is that we prepare the right way, we continue to find ways to elevate and improve and you’re going to get, hopefully, a result that we got tonight. I don’t worry about the message it sends to everybody else as much as I worry about the message that it sends to our players and this program.”
For a team that’s won nine consecutive games, if you were facing Notre Dame next weekend, what would you think?
“Let’s go. Get ready for a battle. This is a team that’s hungry. There’s a lot more. We got more. We didn’t play perfectly, and we strive for perfection. Do we ever play perfect? No. But that’s what we’re going to strive for. That’s what we’re chasing as an entire football program.”
What kind of confidence did Riley Leonard show as a passer tonight? How important is that this late in the season?
“It’s important when you’re moving the ball. I don’t know how many total yards we had offensively. 462. That’s a reflection of that. There’s a lot of confidence. The confidence is developed in the preparation. The preparation for what they’re going to see, but also the preparation in terms of understanding what we’re doing on the offensive side of the ball. I have a lot of confidence in our offensive staff, our offensive coordinator, our quarterback, and they’re playing with that confidence too.”
What does it say about your defense to slow Bryson Daily down tonight?
“We knew we had to stop him. That was the main priority. He is the person that makes that offense go. He’s a tough, downhill, gritty football player. But we had to match that type of mentality. We wanted to attack their offensive line, we wanted to attack him and put more people where they were trying to run than they could block. That was something we saw in game planning that we wanted to do and try to attack. The defense did a really good job at doing that.
“The thing that hurts you is the one touchdown drive in the first half you have three penalties. Nobody’s happy about that. That’s a reminder that: Don’t beat Notre Dame. That drive there’s three penalties that led to seven points that we gotta make sure we eliminate.”
How big was the efficiency of your offense scoring on most of its drives tonight?
“It was really big. We knew we had to score offensively because their offense not only is efficient in what it does, but it keeps the ball. So, we knew we had to try to put some pressure on them offensively and try to get them behind in the score. Our offense was efficient. They did a good job. We gotta be better. We can’t leave points on the board in the red zone, inside the 10-yard line. Then we can’t miss those field goals. That’s what we gotta improve at. That’s the part that I’m gonna focus on.”
How close was Howard Cross III to being able to play tonight? What kind of performance did Donovan Hinish give you in his place?
“Donnie’s done a heck of a job filling in. Just given the opportunity. I think I said this early in the year. We’ve known what Donnie Hinish can do. He just had to get the opportunity so everybody else see what he can do. He’s done a heck of a job.
“Howard was close, and he practiced some. We just didn’t feel like he could give it a go.”
What’s the level of concern with Mitch Jeter health-wise and rhythm-wise at this point?
“I don’t think it’s as much health-wise. We’ll see what happened on the 48-yarder before half. The thing I’m most upset about is the penalty right before that that moved it back five yards. The blocked field goal, we gotta figure out schematically what’s going on. That can’t happen if you want to be a great football team, so we got some work to do on our field goal unit.”
Can you talk about your offensive line being able to get on the second level for your running backs?
“I’m so proud of where that group has come from. You look at from the start of fall camp and who we had starting to now where we’re at, the different starting lineups and the production and the elevation and improvement that offensive line group has done. The running backs will get all the credit. The ball carriers get the credit because of the yards, but those things don’t happen without a great offensive line working together in unison. They’re really doing a good job. Coach Rudolph is doing a good job of getting those guys playing physical but also playing together.”
What’s been most important about the way this team has picked itself up since the loss to Northern Illinois?
“We’ve improved, but we’re starting to be more consistent. That’s the sign of great teams, great businesses, great people is consistency. Not the ability to do it one day and be really high and the next day be really low. But the consistency throughout a game, throughout a season. That’s what we’ve seen in the past couple weeks. We had to improve. We had a lot to improve from that Northern Illinois performance, and we have done that. But now you’re seeing a consistent football team. We gotta continue to be that.”
Is Jeremiyah Love finding another gear at this point of the season? Is there something clicking these last two games that wasn’t previously?
“I don’t know. I want to say his confidence, but he’s always been confident. He was confident in high school. He’s a confident football player. The thing I love about Jeremiyah Love is he’s protecting the football and not causing turnovers. It’s almost like he’s anticipating what the defense is gonna do. When he breaks through the second level, I haven’t seen many people that can catch him. He’s practicing well, he’s taking care of his body and producing on game days.”
What’s the concern with Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa leaving the game?
“I was just told that he’s got a knee sprain. He’s gonna be out for the game. They’ll evaluate him tomorrow when we get back.”
What was your thought about attacking this Army defense coming into the game?
“They were top three in the country in rushing. We’ve gotta be able to run the ball, so we had to find ways to run the ball versus a really good rushing defense. But also take what they were giving us in the pass game. We did a good job. It’s not like we have a secret. We were able to run the ball efficiently versus a really good run defense. We didn’t beat Notre Dame. We were efficient in the pass game and didn’t turn the ball over.”
Thumbnail photo credit: AP Photo/Adam Hunger
Answers are largely verbatim. Questions may have been edited for brevity and clarity.
MARCUS FREEMAN
“I’m really proud of the performance. You never know how this game’s gonna go. We knew we were preparing for a really good opponent. The preparation this week was really good. It was really good. The challenge of beating that team in the turnover margin, who’s top three or whatever in the country. To be able to get that done, I really think it had an impact on the game. It really did. Guys battled. They played well versus a really good team, and they battled. We’re going to enjoy this victory. We’ll get back, we’ll watch it and evaluate it and move forward. A really good performance both offensively and defensively. I’m really proud of the way they prepared and performed.”
On a day that three teams in the top nine of the College Football Playoff rankings lost, you faced an undefeated team and came out with a win. What kind of message did Notre Dame football send today?
“I’ve always said that’s for you all and everybody else to interpret the message that’s sent. There’s one goal on Saturdays, and that’s to achieve team glory. The way you prepare gives you the best opportunity to do that. That’s the message that I want our players to understand is that we prepare the right way, we continue to find ways to elevate and improve and you’re going to get, hopefully, a result that we got tonight. I don’t worry about the message it sends to everybody else as much as I worry about the message that it sends to our players and this program.”
For a team that’s won nine consecutive games, if you were facing Notre Dame next weekend, what would you think?
“Let’s go. Get ready for a battle. This is a team that’s hungry. There’s a lot more. We got more. We didn’t play perfectly, and we strive for perfection. Do we ever play perfect? No. But that’s what we’re going to strive for. That’s what we’re chasing as an entire football program.”
What kind of confidence did Riley Leonard show as a passer tonight? How important is that this late in the season?
“It’s important when you’re moving the ball. I don’t know how many total yards we had offensively. 462. That’s a reflection of that. There’s a lot of confidence. The confidence is developed in the preparation. The preparation for what they’re going to see, but also the preparation in terms of understanding what we’re doing on the offensive side of the ball. I have a lot of confidence in our offensive staff, our offensive coordinator, our quarterback, and they’re playing with that confidence too.”
What does it say about your defense to slow Bryson Daily down tonight?
“We knew we had to stop him. That was the main priority. He is the person that makes that offense go. He’s a tough, downhill, gritty football player. But we had to match that type of mentality. We wanted to attack their offensive line, we wanted to attack him and put more people where they were trying to run than they could block. That was something we saw in game planning that we wanted to do and try to attack. The defense did a really good job at doing that.
“The thing that hurts you is the one touchdown drive in the first half you have three penalties. Nobody’s happy about that. That’s a reminder that: Don’t beat Notre Dame. That drive there’s three penalties that led to seven points that we gotta make sure we eliminate.”
How big was the efficiency of your offense scoring on most of its drives tonight?
“It was really big. We knew we had to score offensively because their offense not only is efficient in what it does, but it keeps the ball. So, we knew we had to try to put some pressure on them offensively and try to get them behind in the score. Our offense was efficient. They did a good job. We gotta be better. We can’t leave points on the board in the red zone, inside the 10-yard line. Then we can’t miss those field goals. That’s what we gotta improve at. That’s the part that I’m gonna focus on.”
How close was Howard Cross III to being able to play tonight? What kind of performance did Donovan Hinish give you in his place?
“Donnie’s done a heck of a job filling in. Just given the opportunity. I think I said this early in the year. We’ve known what Donnie Hinish can do. He just had to get the opportunity so everybody else see what he can do. He’s done a heck of a job.
“Howard was close, and he practiced some. We just didn’t feel like he could give it a go.”
What’s the level of concern with Mitch Jeter health-wise and rhythm-wise at this point?
“I don’t think it’s as much health-wise. We’ll see what happened on the 48-yarder before half. The thing I’m most upset about is the penalty right before that that moved it back five yards. The blocked field goal, we gotta figure out schematically what’s going on. That can’t happen if you want to be a great football team, so we got some work to do on our field goal unit.”
Can you talk about your offensive line being able to get on the second level for your running backs?
“I’m so proud of where that group has come from. You look at from the start of fall camp and who we had starting to now where we’re at, the different starting lineups and the production and the elevation and improvement that offensive line group has done. The running backs will get all the credit. The ball carriers get the credit because of the yards, but those things don’t happen without a great offensive line working together in unison. They’re really doing a good job. Coach Rudolph is doing a good job of getting those guys playing physical but also playing together.”
What’s been most important about the way this team has picked itself up since the loss to Northern Illinois?
“We’ve improved, but we’re starting to be more consistent. That’s the sign of great teams, great businesses, great people is consistency. Not the ability to do it one day and be really high and the next day be really low. But the consistency throughout a game, throughout a season. That’s what we’ve seen in the past couple weeks. We had to improve. We had a lot to improve from that Northern Illinois performance, and we have done that. But now you’re seeing a consistent football team. We gotta continue to be that.”
Is Jeremiyah Love finding another gear at this point of the season? Is there something clicking these last two games that wasn’t previously?
“I don’t know. I want to say his confidence, but he’s always been confident. He was confident in high school. He’s a confident football player. The thing I love about Jeremiyah Love is he’s protecting the football and not causing turnovers. It’s almost like he’s anticipating what the defense is gonna do. When he breaks through the second level, I haven’t seen many people that can catch him. He’s practicing well, he’s taking care of his body and producing on game days.”
What’s the concern with Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa leaving the game?
“I was just told that he’s got a knee sprain. He’s gonna be out for the game. They’ll evaluate him tomorrow when we get back.”
What was your thought about attacking this Army defense coming into the game?
“They were top three in the country in rushing. We’ve gotta be able to run the ball, so we had to find ways to run the ball versus a really good rushing defense. But also take what they were giving us in the pass game. We did a good job. It’s not like we have a secret. We were able to run the ball efficiently versus a really good run defense. We didn’t beat Notre Dame. We were efficient in the pass game and didn’t turn the ball over.”
Thumbnail photo credit: AP Photo/Adam Hunger
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