Marcus Freeman reveals where Notre Dame needs to improve entering Week 4

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman got his first win as a head coach last week when the Fighting Irish defeated Cal 24-17. It wasn’t easy, though — and the first-year headman knows his group has room to improve.

Notre Dame got off to a slow start on offense, failing to get a first down until the second quarter. But the Fighting Irish figured it out, eventually getting the running game going to help Drew Pyne in his first career start.

Freeman acknowledged how well things went in the second half, but noted the team has to get things going early. That’ll be key as the season goes on.

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“I think we’ve got to, offensively, start faster,” Freeman said during his Monday press conference. “We just didn’t execute, really, those routine plays early in the game. A lot of the fault will fall on the shoulders of Drew, but it wasn’t all Drew. We had some drops, we had a couple penalties, Drew had some uncharacteristic throws. We just could not get it going early in the game.

“To really look [at] how it got flipped in the second half and we were able to establish a run game. But what does that do? As I said before, it opens up areas in the pass game, and that’s what it did. [We] continued to run the ball with efficiency, and the pass game opened up and Drew … finished 13-of-14 after starting 4-of-9. That’s what you want to see. But I think it was just the ability to establish that run game, commit to it.”

Marcus Freeman discusses the defense’s need to get off the field

Freeman also said there are things to clean up on defense, especially on third down. He cited one instance against Cal where Notre Dame had the Golden Bears at third and 10 on the 33-yard line, but allowed them to convert and, eventually, score.

That’s when he said there are things he can improve on as well, including timeout usage.

“Defensively, we started really well,” Freeman said. “It’s that one drive a half that ends up in points that we have to continue to find a way to eliminate. Our defense started, in the first half, the one drive on the 33-yard line and we got it to third and 10. With third and 10, you’ve got to get off the field. And they end up converting third and 10 and they tempo’d because it was a close call, all of a sudden, we didn’t get lined up and they got a touchdown.

“I look at myself more than anybody — maybe I should’ve called a timeout there, maybe they’ll review it. But maybe even if [they] reviewed it and we didn’t get it overturned, maybe it was a chance for us to calm down and regroup because the very next play, we don’t get lined up and they score a touchdown. There [are] teaching moments for all of us.”