What Marcus Freeman said after Notre Dame’s Fiesta Bowl loss

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman opening statement

“Well, obviously didn’t finish the outcome that we wanted. We’re obviously disappointed. I thought the kids prepared tremendously. I thought the coaching staff did a great job, but at the end of the day, we didn’t execute when it mattered most. But these guys, man, this is a special group; and for those that aren’t coming back, they’re going to be greatly missed. More than anything, I think there’s a group that’s, one, disappointed, but, two, motivated, motivated to right what happened today and to start the progression for the future. As I told them 28 days ago, this is about right now. This is about finishing this season off the right way. Didn’t happen. And it’s okay. All we can do now is start focusing on what we’ll do as we move forward to make sure that we’re successful the next time we’re on a field.”

Q. What is your message back to the fan base? It’s your first game in as the head coach. You said a lot there in your opening statement, but what is the driving message back to the fan base down in South Bend?

Freeman: “They deserve a winning product. They deserve a team that every week goes out there and wins. It’s our job to make sure we prepare and do everything necessary to give this team, the fan base, the university, and everybody else that deserves a really, really good product out on that field. So we’ll get back to work. That’s the only thing we know how to do. Win or lose, we’re going to get back to work and find ways to improve and make sure that we’re even more prepared and have a better opportunity to have success next time we’re on the field.”

Q. I know you said this isn’t the way you wanted your first game to go today, but can you just kind of tell me what it was like on the field with your first game as head coach of this program?

Freeman: “Like everything else that’s happened in these first 28 days, it’s an honor. It’s a surreal feeling at times. I try to take it in, and I try to understand the platform you’re on; but at the same time, as the foot hit the ball, it’s time to go. It’s time to lead. It’s time to be the head coach. And so just want to make sure that we’re doing everything in our power to give these kids a chance to have success.”

PROMOTION: Sign up with annual subscription for $1 for first year, get Blue & Gold Founders Club hat!

Q. Schematically, in the second half, what did Oklahoma State do differently offensively to sort of get you guys moving in some bad directions? And was there anything that happened today that you learned about yourself as a head coach for the first time that may inform kind of what you want the rest of the off-season to look like, where you want things to go next?

Freeman: They did a good job at getting into some 10 personnel which they really hadn’t shown much all year. It was good. They made some good second-half adjustments offensively and defensively to stop what we were doing offensively and to kind of exploit some things defensively. So they did a good job. And you got to give them credit where credit’s due.

“But for me, obviously, as the leader of this program, again, it’s a pit in your stomach, as I told the group a minute ago, that you want to bottle it up, and you want to remember how this feels. The honeymoon stage is over; right? The whole new head coach, it’s a great story. No. It’s about having a great product, and it’s about having a great team. So we have to make sure that it’s about developing this team for next year. Right? This year’s over. So everything we do from now moving forward is going to be development and making sure we’re prepared to have success.”

Q. Marcus, was Tyler Buchner an option for you guys today? Was he available? And if so, what went into your guys’ management on how to do that?

Freeman: Yeah, he was definitely an option. You look at the way our offense is moving the ball the first half. I don’t think Coach [Tommy] Rees wanted to make that change, and he wanted to keep that thing going. As you get to the second half, they did a good job getting some three and outs; but, obviously, not until the fourth quarter did the lead change, in terms of who was in the lead. So I think at that point, you’re just going to ride with Jack. And Jack played well, man. He played really well. Obviously, there’s a couple plays we wish we could take back, but we can’t. And so I’m proud as heck of Jack. I’m looking forward to seeing this QB competition as we move forward.”

Q. Couple questions. One is could you evaluate the offensive line play today? The second is you had a big to-do list beyond getting ready for the bowl. Do you just take a deep breath now, or do you have to plunge right into coaching hires, portal perusal, and those kinds of things?

Freeman: Yeah. I think for the most part, again, I haven’t gone and evaluated it, but they protected the quarterback. Again, it’s the tale of two halves, in terms of the first half, you scored 28 points, I think, offensively. We’re moving the ball. They’re protecting the quarterback. And in the second half, obviously, things didn’t go that way. So we have to go back and timing and look and say, okay, what did the defense do second half schematically that gave us issues? And let’s try to find a way to make sure that never happens again.

“As far as taking a deep breath, I’m more motivated now to go, go, go; right? And everything we do, from staff to personnel to recruiting to whatever it is that this organization needs to improve, that’s all my mindset is.”

Q. Certainly the fastest tempo you saw this year as a defense. Was it something you were prepared for, and how hard was it to combat that? And the second part of my question was: They seemed to start targeting [Tay] Martin against Clarence Lewis. Was there any way to help that or would that compromise your defense too much in the back end?

Freeman: We knew they were going to go fast, and they did. We prepared for it; but at the end of the day, they still executed a little bit better than we did defensively. And we wanted to play some zone early in the game, and they were starting to exploit that zone. So we said, Okay, let’s change the play a little bit more man. You know what? I trust him. You know what? That guy made some plays. He’s a heck of a player. We got to do a better job of maybe mixing it up. You know what? Clarence Lewis is going to do great things for us, and he’s done great things for us. I wouldn’t trade him for the world.”

Q. You get some pass rush in that first quarter against Spencer Sanders. What changed, as the game went on, that negated the pass rush?

Freeman: You started to see them running quarterback draws. All of a sudden, you get pass rush, and the quarterback scrambles up the middle, we’re going to tell our defenders, Hey, don’t rush the quarterback. So it’s a chess match. We want to get pass rush, but we also don’t want the quarterback to scramble right up the middle of our defense. So they did a good job of mixing up. They did a good job of getting the ball out of quarterback’s hand. And so that could slow down your pass rush. Your pass rush is nonexistent if they can get the ball out his hands so fast. They did a good job. Again, kudos to them. We got to look at how we can fix some things and make sure we’re better prepared.”

PROMOTION: Sign up with annual subscription for $1 for first year, get Blue & Gold Founders Club hat!

Q. Coach [Freeman], this is obviously a tough loss. I’m just curious whether you’ve had a chance to grasp the enormity of the program, the enormity of the job. We’re thinking about the Knute Rockne and the Heismans and the championships. Did that factor into your mind at all during the preparation? And now that you’ve had a chance to digest it, what does it feel like to be in charge of a program this big?

Freeman: You know the enormous responsibility the moment you’re named the head coach of the University of Notre Dame football team. And so I understand the expectations. You can’t focus on that. The only thing you can focus on is your guys. The only thing to focus on is enhancing what you do. That’s where my focus is. It’s not about, hey, do you know the pressure that’s on you? No. It’s about you know what? Everything in my power that I can do to make sure this team improves every single day and that we improve, as an organization, in terms of how we recruit, our culture, how we develop these guys. That’s where my mindset is. It’s not about how big this opportunity is. It’s about, hey, taking care of these guys and making sure we’re helping them improve and reach their goals.

Q. You mentioned the honeymoon period being over. I’m curious, how much do you feel this loss maybe does for the excitement for the start of your era here at Notre Dame with the fan base and in terms of just the excitement around the program that you have had for the first month since you’ve been on board as head coach?

Freeman: It might disappointment some people, but I understand where we’re going in the future, and I understand we have a lot of games ahead of us, and we’re going to use this game as motivation. We’re going to use this game to look back and say, Remember that first one? Look where we’ve come from there. Sometimes you got to look at it as a blessing, man. Maybe it wasn’t this honeymoon phase that kept going boom, boom, and all of a sudden, everything is good and, bam, reality hits. We got to work harder. We got to make sure that we evaluate everything we do a little bit more so the next time we step on that field, we’re prepared a little bit more to have success.

Q. Can you expand on the game calling of Tommy Rees, and how was communication with Tommy throughout the game and Mike Elston?

Freeman: It was obviously a first time for me being on the offensive side of the ball and listening to their communication. I thought it was really good. Again, the play calling and execution are two different things. Tommy [Rees] did a great job of getting a call in, felt like he had a great rhythm, and he did a great job. It’s easy to look at the first half and the second half and say, Hey, it didn’t go as well in the second half. Yeah, it didn’t. But that has nothing to do with the play calls. It’s about execution. We’ve got to execute better. We’ve got to coach better. We’ve got to execute better on both sides of the ball. So we’re all going to look at ourselves; right? We’re all going to point the finger at ourselves and say, What can I do as an individual to make sure we’re more prepared? If we can get everybody in the locker room, everybody that’s involved with our football team, to look at themselves and say, Hey, my role is important as the head coach. What do I have to do to make sure that I execute my role better than the person I’m going against? If we get everybody to look at themselves like that, we’re going to be really, really successful.

Q. I know you guys were up big there at the end of the first half, but when Oklahoma State cuts into that lead and you guys get the ball back with, I think it was 35 seconds, three time-outs. Was there any thought of maybe tacking on a field goal or trying to push the ball down the field there at the end of the first half?

Freeman: No. I tried to talk to Tommy [Rees], and he said, Hey, man, if we take a shot, they still have a few time-outs. So that’s not what we wanted. We felt really good with the 28-14 lead going into half-time. Let’s be smart and make sure that we don’t give this team another opportunity to score points. And so I thought that was a great decision by the communication between me and Tommy, and I wouldn’t change that.

PROMOTION: Sign up with annual subscription for $1 for first year, get Blue & Gold Founders Club hat!

Q. And just a quick follow-up to that, how would you assess, obviously your first time, being in charge of all those different type of logistical things? How would you look back? And I know you’ll probably watch the film and whatnot and get a better idea of how you faired in that, but how would you assess how you did?

Freeman: Well, not as well as you wanted. You obviously wanted a victory, but I think we can all learn from it, myself included. Look at every situation, say, Hey. Is there something you can do differently? Is there a time-out you could have called? Is there something defensively you could’ve done? Maybe a suggestion offensively we could have done? It’s a learning situation. It’s a learning opportunity. You like to learn from wins, but this is going to be a learning opportunity from a loss. As long as everybody learns from this, we’ll be fine.

Q. Just two quick questions. One, how did you feel like [Mike] Elston did calling plays for the defense today? And, secondly, was there any thoughts of punting on that fourth and seven deep in your own half at the end of the game?

Freeman: I think Elston did a great job. I thought he prepared like crazy. I thought this defense was prepared. And they gave us a few wrinkles that we hadn’t prepared for and maybe we hadn’t seen them do on film. Again, as I said earlier, kudos to them. They did a good job.

“And then, no, I did not consider punting with three minutes left, just because we were reeling a little bit on defense; right? Hey, we hadn’t been able to get the big stops that we needed. So let’s try to put our hat on our offense and see if we can get a fourth-down conversion and try to score. And so, obviously, it didn’t go that way. We still got the ball back, had a chance with a minute left to try to get an onside kick to win. It didn’t happen. So let’s, hopefully, next time don’t put ourselves in that situation.”