UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 7, 2024

Marcus Freeman

Press Conference

Northern Illinois - 16, Notre Dame - 14

MARCUS FREEMAN: Obviously disappointing. Disappointing in the performance. You know, it's our job as coaches to make sure these guys are ready to go.

We've got to go back and evaluate the way we prepared and figure out exactly the mishaps occurred in the preparation. I've always said performance is a reflection of preparation. We've got to figure out where we failed in preparation.

It's disappointing. You go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in a tale of two weeks, but we've got to own this thing. As coaches and players, we've got to own it, and we've got to fix it.

We've been here before, right? We've been here before. Now it's time to get it fixed. We've got to get it fixed and get back to playing football the way we know how to play, we've played before, and we can, and we will.

With that, I'll open it up for questions.

Q. Marcus, at the very end of the game, I think it was a 62-yarder. Is that well within Mitch's range, or were you thinking Hail Mary potentially as well?

MARCUS FREEMAN: No, it's right there on the edge. We had the wind at his back. The thought process being, with the wind at his back, if he gets under this thing and drives it, there's a shot that he could make it.

He's made it probably not from that distance, but close to that distance. With the added wind, we thought that was the best option for us.

Q. Riley's second interception, second and one seems like a good chance to take a shot. Was that the look that you guys wanted, and was it just an under throw? How would you evaluate his performance as well?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Yeah, we wanted to take a shot on that situation. Obviously not the execution that we wanted. Obviously never intend to throw an interception. That's the look we wanted. That's where we wanted the ball to go. We've just got to throw a better ball.

Everybody's going to try to point a finger at somebody, some side of the ball, one play, one person. It's the entire program that underachieved the day. The entire program has to own it and improve from it.

Q. The defense last week, very tight performance. Today was it misdirection? Was it youth? What do you think happened defensively today with the breakdowns?

MARCUS FREEMAN: I think I told you guys on Thursday, they've got a unique offense. I think about the explosive plays in the first half, and the very first pass really good throw, really good catch in a two high coverage, and we've got to down the ball. We didn't get a chance to down the ball, and it goes for a touchdown.

The rest of the explosives were, I think, a mixture of eye control, you having your eyes on the man, but also edges toward defense. We let the ball get outside of us too much.

That's not the Notre Dame defense we've built over the past three or four years. That's not a performance that we're proud of. But we've just got to get it fixed.

Q. This is probably too big picture of a question, but did you feel as a head coach, as a program, you guys had evolved beyond days like this?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Absolutely. Absolutely. I felt the preparation was exactly where we needed. To come off that big win and come back and have two tough practices, which was the only option for us. I thought we had a sharp practice Thursday and Friday in terms of obviously not the physical side of things.

I thought, maybe in the first, I was like, okay, we need to -- I don't know exactly why we're not executing the way we need to, but maybe that was the wake-up call we needed to go out and change this the second half.

It started to go that way, and defense started playing better in the second half. We just couldn't capitalize off it on offense. We could not. Other than the one touchdown, I think J. Love had, we just couldn't continue. We couldn't move the chains either. That's the other thing.

We can't go three and out, and we can't turn the ball over. Those are areas we've just got to get fixed.

Q. Marcus, what did you tell the team just now in the locker room?

MARCUS FREEMAN: I just told them the same thing I just said. I said, we've got to own this. Every person in here, every coach has to own it first, and not blame somebody else. That's the only way to fix it is when every, I'm sure, person, everybody outside of here will try to point the finger at some coach, some player, some person. It should be at the head coach. It's my job.

But we all have to own this, and we all have to really take a deep dive and fix it. Our leadership will show. If we have true leadership, which I believe we have, they'll take care of the locker room. They'll make sure that these guys, they don't separate.

But I also told them I've been here. I've been here. This is as low as it gets, and there's only one option for me, and that's to get back to work and get it fixed. That's who I am, and that's who this team is going to be, and that's the way I'm going to lead is I'm not going into hiding. I'm going to get it fixed.

Man, I'm going to be just as confident in what we're going to be able to do as a football program moving forward as I was going into this game. But there's some serious, some schematical things that we have to attack and get corrected.

Q. They were able to run the ball pretty effectively in the second half. What did you see them doing up front that was challenging for you guys?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Some of them were good schemes. They got a good stretch running game, where they were able to puncture some holes that we didn't have a backer or a D-lineman in that gap.

But a couple of them were missed tackles. We've got to make sure we're tackling and we're knocking the ball carrier back. As I said earlier, two or three times they get around the edge defensively, and when that happens and you're a man coverage team and you're playing man coverage, they get outside of you, that thing's going to go for a little while.

So a lot of different areas we've got to improve on to stop the run defensively.

Q. Marcus, you said moments ago it's our job as coaches to make sure they're ready to go, and you said today we underachieved as an entire program, but you had good practices during the week. Did you sense it at any point today, and how specifically do you own it and fix it moving forward?

MARCUS FREEMAN: I think you go back and evaluate everything. You go back and you evaluate, okay, how did we practice? You go back and look and say, okay, was our game plans good enough to give us a chance to win? Like all those different areas.

It's not just the physical part of practice, but it's looking at, okay, what did the opponent do in the game that we were prepared for and weren't prepared for? If we were prepared for them, did we execute or didn't we execute? If we weren't prepared for it, why? Hey, is this something that a team is trying to attack us because of some area we showed in a previous game?

All of those different things are ways to evaluate. You have to debrief. You have to evaluate every single thing that you did in the previous week. If it was practice structure, then I'm going to evaluate and say , okay, what do we have to do to make sure we have better output?

That's the only way you can do it. As you move forward into the week, as you move into the game, you say, okay, I feel good about preparation. Preparation is done. Now it's about performance. The performance is a reflection of preparation. The performance isn't where we wanted it to be. Let's go back and evaluate the preparation A to Z.

Preparation is so much more than practice. It's obviously the game plans and the choices that we make as players too, coaches and players. All these choices that only sometimes we, as individuals, know. Hey, did I do everything in my power this week to prepare the way I needed to? That's a long look that each individual in this program has to make in the mirror too.

Q. Maybe in the third quarter you guys had to use a defensive timeout. What happened there?

MARCUS FREEMAN: I can't even remember. I know we did. I don't know if it was personnel. We were in the wrong personnel at the time or maybe a call we didn't like. I just can't remember exactly why I called it, but I know it was something, and we didn't like it defensively.

Q. Marcus, what halftime adjustments did you guys make on offense that you were hoping would maybe work better than they did the second half?

MARCUS FREEMAN: We talked about being able to take shots down the field. Hey, if they give us man coverage, we can take some shots, but we can't get away from running the ball. That was something we had to do.

We did it better, but not as effective as we needed to to win the ballgame. So at times we ran it, but at times we couldn't run the ball. At times we threw it decently, and at times we couldn't throw the ball the way we needed to.

The adjustments that we made, it didn't turn into points, other than seven in the second half.

Q. After the game last week, you were asked about Riley Leonard's usage as a runner. Did you feel like you guys got -- had to run him as much as you wanted to this week? Has that had any impact on his ability to throw?

MARCUS FREEMAN: No, I don't think so. It's something we can ask him. I mean, we'll ask him if he feels the amount of times we run him, ran him has an impact on him throwing the ball. Those are dialogues we definitely will have.

We didn't run him as much this week as we did the previous week. Part of that was intentional, but part of that was there's times in the game where we said we need to run him, keep the ball in his hands.

I think we have to protect better. We have to protect our quarterback better. Then what I've got to figure out is, okay, is it protection? Or is it, hey, decision-making? Why aren't we getting the ball out of our hands? Is it routes?

It's not just one person. It's a collective group effort that we have to really evaluate and say, okay, here's the issue. Here's the plan moving forward that's really going to help us have more success.

Q. Last week you said like the fired up energy in the tunnel before the game was the approach the team needed. What was really the whole staff's approach before this game, and why do you feel like the team came out flat?

MARCUS FREEMAN: That's why I said this on Monday, I thought going into a big environment, I try to take the pressure off of some of those young O-linemen that haven't been in that type of environment.

As we came into home, it's very clear, man, focus on exactly what your job to do. If you're not motivated to play in Notre Dame Stadium, then that's a choice. It's choice. Motivation is a choice.

So we try to be clear on here's exactly what we need to do. Let's focus on winning the interval. Let's focus on reloading and make sure you have a clear mind as you take the field.

Also, it's listen we've got to attack. We've got to attack from the minute the foot hits the ball, and we did. We came out on offense and attacked them and scored a touchdown, but that wasn't the consistent play that we need. That's what I want to make sure we understand.

If I knew me taking the pressure off of them was going to result in doing exactly what we were supposed to do on every single play, I would do it no matter what it took. I would do it every day.

But we have to make sure what this team has to be able to do in a game of football is reload every play and win this play. Like that's all that matters. It doesn't matter. The last play doesn't matter. Like on this play can we consistently do our job? And on the next play do our job. That's the mindset that we have to have when we take the field.