Five things Marcus Freeman said before Ohio State vs. Notre Dame football
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman met with the media for the final time before the No. 9 Fighting Irish (4-0) host the No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes (3-0) at 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium. Here are five things Freeman shared with reporters.
On using a lot of defensive substitutions even in a game against a great opponent like Ohio State
“Each game you have a plan for how you’re going to roll guys. And then you make in-game adjustments. How do we keep guys fresh? Who’s earned the right through practice to play more? I think you have a plan going into each game on who you’re going to roll in there and utilize. But the flow of the game will dictate that too.”
On this meeting vs. Ohio State feeling different than last year’s
“Last year, more than anything, it was the first game. First game of the season. Going back to Ohio State, obviously there were a lot of headlines about that. This year is a different approach for everybody. We’re going into Week 5 for us. Week 4 for them. You got two good teams. That’s the focus. It’s not about where I was or where I went to school or anybody else. It’s about preparing your team to face a really good Ohio State team. I’m sure on the other hand, Ohio State has the same mentality. That’s where the focus should be, and that’s where I think it will stay.”
On the Notre Dame offensive line
“I’ve been extremely pleased with the play of our offensive line. I know we had high expectations coming into the season, but I think they’ve done a good job of gelling as a unit. You have two guys on the inside between Pat [Coogan] and Rocco [Spindler] that were first time starters four games ago who continuously grow.
“There are always things you fix and work on and work to improve, but Coach [Joe] Rudolph and that offensive line have done a really good job improving and going out on Saturdays and executing at a high level.”
On former Notre Dame graduate assistant James Laurinaitis now being on the Ohio State staff
“We try to change weekly. We look at our signals and some of the communication. Each week it changes. So it will be no different this week. You have to continue to change things up. All your games are on TV. They can hear the checks on TV. You can see signals on TV. That’s a part of the game of football that we constantly try to every week make small changes to keep teams off balance that might be hearing our checks or seeing our signals. It has less to do with Laurinaitis being on their staff and more to do with us continuously trying to keep our opponents off balance in terms of what we’re signaling and what our checks are.”
On what the overall message has been to Notre Dame players and coaches this week
“This week is probably a bit noisier because of the opponent, because of College GameDay, because of The Pat McAfee Show, all these different things that are going on here. The biggest thing is control the noise. Turn it down. Focus on the moment. Focus on today’s practice and what we’re doing now because this is what will give us the best opportunity to perform at a high level on Saturday. It’s really been do what we do but do it better. That’s what I’ve told those guys on Monday when I met with them. Do what we do. What we’ve done is good enough, but do it better. That’s a reminder to stay in the moment, turn down the noise and focus on us.”
