Live updates: Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman Oct. 13 press conference before USC

Watch a replay of Freeman’s press conference in the video player above or scroll for the key updates from it.

Freeman says he has a lot of respect for what former Penn State head coach James Franklin has done for college football. He adds he feels terrible for the Penn State assistants who will inevitably lose their jobs as well.

“It’s a challenging profession.”

“If we thought going under center in short yardage situations was the answer, we would do it … We don’t believe that’s the reason why we’re not having success.”

Marcus Freeman says Notre Dame beating USC won’t be about outsmarting the Trojans. It will be about being more physical than ’em.

“It’s got to be a physical, bloody game.” (via Tyler Horka)

“He had a follow-up surgery a couple weeks ago to clean up some things in his arm. It’s going to be a process to get him back, but he’s making positive strides. He will return at some point, but I don’t know when it’s going to be. When we find out that he’s ready to go and can help us, we’ll utilize that information and make decisions from there.”

“Our focus has to be on selling Notre Dame. I don’t know what people would say against us — if snow is going to stop you from coming to Notre Dame, then you’re probably not the competitor we desire to have here … California is obviously an important state to us. We’ve had a lot of success there. We have to find the best players in the country that fit this place, and there have been a lot of players from California who have done a great job here.”

Blue & Gold senior writer Eric Hansen’s question included former Irish general manager Chad Bowden, who left for USC in the offseason, but Freeman’s answer didn’t mention Bowden.

“I have a lot of confidence in Dallas Golden. He played really well. Obviously, the touchdown can’t happen and he knows that, but he’s getting better. We have a lot of confidence in him if he has to be out there. Obviously, we have confidence in [DeVonta] Smith.

“We have to make sure we have a good plan. If that means moving Leonard Moore there, then we’ll move him there. But you also have a lot of confidence knowing that Leonard Moore is at corner and that side of the field is taking care of.”

Marcus Freeman says he has more confidence in where Notre Dame is with the center position with Joe Otting after watching him come in for the injured Ashton Craig for a good amount of reps vs. NC State.

You can feel how genuine Freeman is when he says Otting will do just fine. (via Tyler Horka)

“Our leadership and their leadership are talking to try to find a way to extend this rivalry. I’m confident that it’ll be extended, but I don’t have any proof that it’s being extended right now. But there’s discussions and hopefully we can continue this great rivalry.”

“They’re playing well on both sides of the ball. They’re a competent team and just had a big win over Michigan. We have to continue to focus on what’s important — preparing for this opportunity on Saturday.”

Starting Ashton Craig is out for the season with a right knee injury. Joe Otting is listed as the team’s starting center on this week’s depth chart.

He said NC State did a good job of preventing explosive run plays and the Irish have to be better in short yardage, but that it was a “good overall performance.”

Freeman adds that the defense played its best game all year.