Live updates: Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman Sept. 8 press conference before Texas A&M

Watch a replay of it in the video player above and stay tuned to Blue & Gold for more reaction.

Freeman notes that Charles Jagusah is still staying mentally sharp and involved with the team.

“You have a philosophy as a coordinator about how you want to play, but at the end of the day, the best coaches put their players in positions to play well and play fast. Sometimes, it takes playing another opponent to figure out what a player does well … I learned that personally when we did things against Florida State my first year. We had different personnel than where I was previously. So, how can I adjust our scheme to fit the talent and personnel we have here? That was an ongoing process throughout the season … And it will be for us on offense, defense and special teams.”

“I thought overall they played well, but the standard is to play higher. Part of it is credit to their D-line. Sometimes you can get paralyzed to movement. Their D-line moved and did some different things. What you don’t want to do is paralyze the velocity and aggression that our O-line plays with … At times, we did get too lateral in terms of how we want to our offensive line to play. But I’m confident in that group. They’ll be fine.”

“The execution is still what matters. We have to play gap-sound football. We have to make plays on balls in the air. We have to be aggressive when we need to be aggressive. We need four-man pass rush on the quarterback, which we didn’t do last week. Credit to him (Carson Beck), but that can’t be an excuse for us.”

Playing (basically) only Eli Raridon at tight end against Miami was an opponent-specific game plan decision, Freeman said. The staff has confidence in Ty Washington, Jack Larsen and James Flanigan to help if necessary.

Washington played one snap against Miami. Otherwise, Raridon was the only tight end who the Irish played against Miami.

Marcus Freeman says Notre Dame didn’t have a lack of effort vs. Miami. He attibributes the crucial shortcomings to a lack of execution. The effort wasn’t always channeled correctly to get desired outcomes on particular plays.

“Very similar to their head coach.”

Freeman says sleepless nights and loss of appetite after a loss like that is normal. But Notre Dame is very focused on bouncing back vs. Texas A&M.

No news is good news on the injury front. And regarding the depth chart, Sullivan Absher and Guerby Lambert are still listed as an “or.”

He said that his message to the team is about “delayed gratification” after losing to Miami and having a bye week.

“The first thing you want to do after you lose is go play again. You want to go show everybody that you’re good, that we’re a good team.”