Everything Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said after the Army game
On Saturday night, Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman spoke to the media for about 10 minutes following the No. 9 Fighting Irish’s 49-14 win against No. 19 Army. Here is everything he said.
Opening statement
“Really proud of the performance. You never know how this game is going to go. We knew we were preparing for a really good opponent, and the preparation this week was really good. It was really good. The challenge of beating that team in the turnover margin — whose top three or whatever in the country — to be able to get that done, I really think, had an impact on the game. It really did.
“The guys battled, right? They played well versus a really good team, and they battled. So, we’re going to enjoy this victory. We’ll get back, we’ll watch it and evaluate it and move forward. But a really good performance, both offensively and defensively; really proud of the way they prepared and performed.”
On the message Notre Dame sent with its win while three other teams in the top 9 of the College Football Playoff rankings lost Saturday
“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 gonna get, hopefully, the result that we got tonight. And so I don’t worry about the message it sends everybody else as much as I worry about the message that it sends to our players in this program.”
On what he would think if he had to hypothetically face Notre Dame next weekend
“Let’s go. Get ready for a battle. It’s 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, and that’s what we’re chasing as an entire football program.”
On senior quarterback Riley Leonard’s confidence to complete passes to eight different receivers
“Yeah, 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, right? The confidence is developed in the preparation, right? 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 offense coordinator, our quarterback. They’re playing with that confidence, too.”
On slowing down Army QB Bryson Daily
“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, just a gritty football player. But we had to match that type of mentality.
“We wanted to attack their offensive line and wanted to attack him. And put more people where they were trying to run than they could block. That was something we saw in a game plan 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, I think in the first half, you have three penalties. Nobody’s happy about that, right? And that’s a reminder that — don’t beat Notre Dame. That drive, there’s three penalties that led to seven points that we got to make sure we eliminate.”
On how big offensive efficiency was against Army
“It was really big. We knew we had to score offensively because their offense not only is efficient at 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 a score.
“Our offense was efficient. They did a good job. We’ve got to be better. We can’t leave points on the board in the red zone, inside the 10-yard line, and then we can’t miss those field goals. But that’s what we got to improve at, and that’s the part that I’m gonna focus on.”
On how close Notre Dame graduate student defensive lineman Howard Cross III (ankle) was to playing and the job junior DL Donovan Hinish has done
“Donnie has done a heck of a job filling in. I mean, just given the opportunity, I think I said this earlier in the year, we know what Donnie Hinish can do. He just had to get the opportunity, so everybody else sees what he can do, but he’s done a heck of a job.
“Howard was close. We just didn’t feel like — and he practiced some — we didn’t feel like he could give it a go.”
On the level of concern with graduate student kicker Mitch Jeter’s health and rhythm
“I don’t think it’s as much health-wise. I think we, we’ll see what happened on the 48-yarder before half. The thing I’m most upset about is the penalty right before that, right? That moved it back five yards.
“But the blocked field goal, we got to figure out schematically what’s going on. Like 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.”
On the offensive line getting to the second level to get the running backs downfield
“I’m so proud of where that group has come from. You look at from the start of fall camp, and you know who we had starting to now, where we’re at, the different starting lineups, in the production and the elevation and the 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 really great offensive line working together in unison.
“So really doing a good job. (Offensive line) Coach (Joe) Rudolph is doing a good job of getting those guys playing physical, but also playing together.”
On what has been most important in building momentum since losing to Northern Illinois
“We’ve improved, but we’re starting to be more consistent, right? And that’s the sign of, I said this before, 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 I think we’ve seen in the past couple of weeks.
“We’ve had to improve. You had a lot to improve from that Northern Illinois performance. And we have done that. But now you’re seeing a consistent football team, and we got to continue to be that.”
On sophomore RB Jeremiyah Love’s late-season performances
“I don’t know. I want to say his confidence, but he’s always been confident — he looked confident in high school, right? He’s a competent football player. The thing I love about Jeremiyah Love is he’s protecting the football and not causing turnovers, but it’s almost like he’s anticipating what the defense is going to do.
“When he breaks through the second level, I haven’t seen many people that can catch him. But he’s he’s practicing well, he’s taking care of his body and producing on game days.”
On what the concern is with freshman linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa after he left the game
“He’s just a knee. I was just told that he’s got a knee sprain. He’s gonna be out for the game, so they’ll evaluate him tomorrow when we get back.”
On how they approached the Army defense
“They were top three in the country, I think, in rushing. We got to 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 passing game. We did a good job.
“It’s not like we have a secret. It’s just we were able to run the ball officially versus a really good run defense. And we didn’t beat Notre Dame, and we were efficient in the passing game and didn’t turn the ball over.”
BOX SCORE: No. 6 NOTRE DAME 49, No. 19 ARMY 14
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