'This is not a trap game': Everything Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman told the media Monday

Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman is not taking No. 23 Pittsburgh lightly. Or so he says.

In Freeman’s weekly in-season news conference on Monday, Freeman revealed that someone texted him and said Saturday’s clash with the Panthers is a “trap game.” Freeman disagrees.

“I said, ‘This is not a trap game,'” Freeman said. “This is a challenge. This is a real challenge, a great challenge. So we have to understand the challenge we have ahead of us on Saturday and use that as a reminder to prepare the right way.”

Before the No. 9 Irish kick off their practice week, Freeman spoke to the media for 30 minutes and answered 18 questions. Here’s everything he said.

Opening statement — recapping the Navy win

“Sunday, I was talking to a recruit and family, and they were raving about the environment Saturday night. It gave me a chance to reflect on when we were singing the Alma Mater and all the students and fans. A couple of them didn’t have their shirts on. 

“You appreciate the support and the fans and the students that really stayed in those elements. And in the score, too. You’re grateful for the support and grateful to be a part of this.

“After watching the film, I was really pleased with the overall performance of all three phases. All three phases. I know last week, I got up here and said there was not enough good, followed by good. This game, you see — other than the one series when we went three-and-out on offense, and then we shanked a punt and they go and score.

“That’s the one series we’ve got to get corrected, obviously. We can’t allow that to happen. But other than that, it was good, followed up with good, followed up with good, and that’s what we have to do to play complementary football on both sides of the ball. Be hitting at the same time.

“So it was good. I was proud of them. Proud of the way they handled the weather elements. Special teams and offense, they handled the weather well.

“The young guys, I told the coaching staff to have some of the backups and young guys go in there and really perform well. That was pleasing to me because that’s not always the case. I remember previously getting into team meetings and saying, ‘You have to hold everybody to the same standard, I don’t care if you’re a starter or not.’ They played really well, and I’m very encouraged by that.”

Opening statement continued — kicker Erik Schmidt

“Erik obviously had a much better day kicking the ball. I think he was 7-for-7 on PATs and 8-for-8 on kickoffs. Again, I know we didn’t attempt a field goal, but that to me was a great sign of improvement. I told the staff what happened with Erik, that’s a reflection of our team. Erik had a routine that we all — himself and we all believed — was producing improving results.

“And then all of a sudden BC happens, and it’s failure, it’s trauma. That is a devastating thing, so no,w because of that desperation to fix it, you come up with a new routine, you come up with different answers. I always say like, ‘There are answers, but sometimes desperation and trauma and struggle forces you to go seek those things.’ Because you can think your routine is producing good results and then all of a sudden it doesn’t, you’ve got to make it better. How do we find more answers and go to work?

“So now this new routine that he has, it has to become now the foundation for what he does moving forward, and we’ve got to continue to enhance that. That new routine is what he has to make sure he’s doing every day. He can’t tolerate below the standard routine. He can’t choose to not do things that he did last weekend, and the same thing for us coaches. We can’t tolerate it.

“So that’s just a great example of a lot of things that I talk about with us as individuals and us as a team. I’m just really proud of the work he put in, and look forward to seeing how he continues to improve with this new process that he has and the new work that he’s put in. So I’m proud of him.”

Opening statement continued — previewing Pittsburgh

“It’s going to be a great challenge. We know that. They’re 7-2, and I think on a five-game winning streak and playing with a lot of confidence and momentum, and rightfully so. They’ve earned it. On offense, they’re an explosive-play, fast, shifts, motions, tempo — I think they’re in the top 10 in scoring offense right now.

“They obviously made the change at quarterback, and he is confident in himself, but you see the confidence in the people around him. He is really doing some great things for this offense. They’ve got great weapons across the board. Their defense is aggressive, tough, physical. Everything you would think of, a defense that plays under Pat Narduzzi.

“I’ve studied him for years and the things they do. They’re creating a lot of havoc. They’ll do everything in their power to stop the run, so we’ve got to be prepared and we’ve got to have answers.

“And their special teams, that’s where I’ve seen a big difference from the last time we played them. They are creative, challenging on all phases of special teams that we have to be prepared for.

“As I was reminded — yesterday, somebody texted me — that this is a trip game. I said, ‘This is not a trap game.’ This is a challenge. This is a real challenge, a great challenge. So we have to understand the challenge we have ahead of us on Saturday and use that as a reminder to prepare the right way. To take care what we have, and that’s what’s right in front of us.

“So we’ve got to get to work, and we’ve been getting to work and have got to continue to do it.”

On what he learned about specific players in the third quarter vs. Navy and the team as a whole to finish

“In the locker room, I remember telling them it’s 21-10, but we all feel a little bit of a struggle. It’s not going as smooth as we wanted this thing to go. I said, ‘This is really going to take our offensive and defensive line playing on the other side of the line of scrimmage.’

“When you face a unique scheme, offensively or defensively, at times it paralyzes you. You’re just trying to be disciplined and just do your job, but you have to still do that with aggression and physicality.

“That’s what I saw in the second half. We saw guys playing aggressively and physically on their side of the ball. We obviously come out and we score, and then we force a turnover on downs. The next play, we score. So it kind of got rolling from there, but I did see the physicality from our O-line and D-line that I think we have to play with.”

On where WR Jaden Greathouse is physically and mentally

“JG is putting in so much work in trying to get that hamstring to where it needs to go, where it needs to be. Last week, we had to extract some blood from his hamstring just because part of the healing process is when some blood builds up, you’ve got to extract it and continue to get that muscle stronger. 

“Mentally, he’s been in a good place. He’s as frustrated as anybody. He wants to be out there. So we’ve just got to, ‘Hey, keep working.’ And we’ll see what happens here in the next days, weeks, depending how he heals.”

On the main focus of improvement vs. Pitt

“I can go down the list. Everything we do. The main focus for you all may not be the main focus for us. You said slow starts, that’s a reflection of winning this play and executing on this play, and having a good game plan on this play.

“And so that’s our focus. We have to have a great game plan. We have to continue to find ways to put our players in positions to succeed, and we’ve got to go work. Then we’ve got to go work that game plan. We’ve got to struggle. We’ve got to really prepare the right way.

“Then, we’ve got to go play. But there’s no one part —every part is important. Every single part of the preparation is important.”

On where he stands on Notre Dame football’s independence

“I’m focused on Pitt. I’m focused on Pitt, and that’s where my focus is. I don’t have anything else to say about that.”

On how real the post-option hangover is and what Notre Dame can do to mitigate it vs. Pitt

“I can’t remember specifically, but I think last year we might have had a bye right before Navy. I don’t know if anybody remembers that. (He’s reminded that it was a bye right after Navy.) Well, that goes away from what I was about to say.

“Anyways, it can be real. It can be. Or it can be not. You put the wor,k in and you prepare the right way. I’m never going to allow myself or our guys to make an excuse for a performance below what we’ve set for ourselves. I don’t know, Navy’s in the past. We’re getting ready for Pitt.”

On the keys to maintaining good on good consistency

“You know what (I’m going to say). Win…this…play, Jack [Soble]. The same answer I’m going to give you when you ask me about starting (fast) — win…this…play. Like that’s how you follow up with good with good with good with good, is you are good on this play. That’s what matters.”

On how he regards the Heisman Trophy

“I think it’s one of the highest honors you can get as a college football player. But I think somebody asked me, ‘Do I believe Jeremiyah Love is a Heisman Trophy candidate?’ I don’t know exactly how it was asked, but absolutely.

“But if we all just focus on being the best player we can be for this team and give everything we have to helping us win — I don’t want to make decisions to influence the people who vote for the Heisman. I just want everybody in our program to put all their effort into winning and being the best players they can be.

“That’s not to negate what the prestigious and what that trophy represents. It’s a great award. It’s a huge honor, and somebody’s going to win it. I don’t know. But I think Jeremiyah Love would be the first to tell you that winning a game is way more important than that individual award.

“He’s going to do everything in his power to make sure that we prepare to win a game, and if the Heisman Trophy comes with it, then great. That’s amazing.”

On what Love brings beyond the stat sheet

“He’s as special of a football player as I’ve been around. Every time he has the ball in his hands, he can make something positive happen. He is as dangerous of an offensive weapon that I’ve probably been around.

“That’s the value I see in him for our team, is you can put him at wideout, you can motion him from the backfield, you can throw him the ball, you can hand him the ball, and he’s going to make something happen.

“As long as well all work together, O-line’s got to protect and block ‚ there are a lot of people that go into making sure he has success. But I’m just talking like one-on-one. He is as skilled as I’ve ever been around, and he works his tail off to prepare to put on a performance on Saturday like he usually does.”

On left guard Billy Schrauth’s recovery progress

“When he’s ready, he’s ready. There’s no importance of regular season, postseason. If he can get back, he’ll play. But right now, he’s just trying to just keep, improve, and get to that point where he can help us. But he’s not there yet. I don’t know when he’ll be there. But he’s working tirelessly at really getting back to helping his football team.”

On the challenges of a Noon game, what is the wake-up call, and how sports science gets them to peak at Noon on Saturday

“We have a plan that we’ve utilized when we played Arkansas. We know that the plan that we have, the routine that we have, playing at Noon is different than playing at night. We’re intentional about it. What we do in preparation, how we — from Monday’s meetings and lift times to Friday night bedtime, bed check, to Saturday morning wake up.

“They got to be downstairs for meetings at, 7, I don’t know, 7:30 or 8 (a.m.), I can’t remember the exact time. But they’re going to be up before then. We have a wake-up call, but a lot of them are down and having breakfast before we wake them up. Yeah, I like our plan for a noon game.”

On the teaching points to DL Bryce Young to fully maximize his abilities, and where the weight gain has helped or hurt him in his second year

“It’s a transition, right? It takes time when you put on the weight, and it’s good weight; he’s put on good weight. I think for him it’s almost natural; he’s a big guy, and he was young last year. He’s just a second-year sophomore; you look at his genetics, he’s going to be big. ,

“So how do we get him to learn how to play with the proper technique with that size is something that takes time. You can teach, teach, teach, teach, teach, but until you continuously do it and do it and do it and practice it over and over, and reteach and show him what he’s doing right, doing wrong. Like it doesn’t become second nature.

“He’s doing a great job, he’s improving. I don’t know the stats, but for us, when I go through the grades, he’s doing exactly what we need him to do. Sp, he’s going to keep grinding, man, keep working, but he’s a valuable member of this football team.”

On the procedure for the wise men video, and if they suggest alternative celebrations to avoid the penalties they’ve received

“Absolutely. The wise men plays are just an accumulation of different teaching plays from non-Notre Dame games, right? So it can be college, NFL, it can be CFL, it can be high school. If there’s plays that our guys can learn from, then I want to use that time to teach them.

“That’s what we do on Fridays. We spend some time looking at teaching opportunities, but also sometimes mistakes of other players, and I always say … any man can learn from his own mistakes, it takes a wise man to learn from the mistakes of others.

“And so, part of that is celebrations. Like nobody’s worth 15 yards. And again, our guys have to learn what those 15-yard penalties are being called. In case one of your celebrations is on this wise man tape, you better come up with a new one. I always say, ‘If you celebrate together, (they’re) probably not going to say anything.’ So, it’s just a way to learn and a way to try to be proactive with preventing a problem.”

On the importance of not using his guys for four full quarters and saving them when and where they can

“I think it’s important if you can do that. For yes, to take off the load, the physical load, the running volume, but more importantly, if you can do that, that means you’re, you’re at a point in the game where you feel like we’re going to put these younger guys, the backups in. And that to me is more important than anything. It’s great to get to a point where you feel like you can put your backs up in. That is probably more important than saving the physical loads they have on their bodies.

“Now, we can always make practice adjustments based on a group, the team, individuals, based off the numbers, but again, if we have an opportunity to get some guys that don’t play much meaningful moments and plays in a game, like that’s good for so many different reasons. It’s good because it means you feel like you won the game, if you feel like you can put these guys in. It’s good because those backups can get meaningful time, and it’s good because you save some of the impacts on the guys that are playing a lot more.”

On whether he has a sense of why it’s hard to pinpoint one guy as a top wide receiver and what that group does, where multiple guys might be the dangerous one

“Yeah, obviously the top three are playing as well as, I mean, anyone, right? Between Malachi [Fields] and [Jordan] Fais (Faison) and Will [Pauling]. KK’s [Smith] continuing to improve and make big plays like he did Saturday in the game, and some other guys are stepping up.

“It’s a credit to the work they put in, right? The work they put in. But I always say the statistics reflect, one, decision making on the quarterback, but two, the confidence for the offensive coordinator to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to scheme this up that this is your first, your first read to this wide out, or whoever it is.’

“Again, it’s great to hear, right? It’s great to hear and to see multiple guys really performing well. Coach [Mike] Brown’s done a great job in that room. He acquired some talent that are the right fits, but really good football players.

“And credit to CJ [Carr], for being able to put the ball where it needs to be and making the right decisions. And then the offensive line’s got to protect so they can have — so CJ has time to get the ball to those guys. So there’s a lot of different things that go into that, but it’s a really good situation.”

On his evaluation of how the offensive line has been playing, especially left guard Sullivan Absher and center Joe Otting

“Yeah, both played well the last, I think Otter’s three games, but Sully the last two games. They’re improving. There’s areas where they have other improve, just like everybody else. But they’re doing a really, really good job and not only recognizing different tells from the defense, but trying to play on the other side of the line of scrimmage. And that’s the ultimate challenge. Doing a good job in pass pro. Otter’s doing a good job at just recognizing different looks, making calls.

“So, it’s been good. It’s going to be a greater challenge, we know that. This challenge ahead of us is going to be a really, really tough one. So, we’ve got to keep working and preparing, but I’m really pleased with the way they’ve been playing.”

On what he learned about the concussion injuries, or if it was random

“No, they’re all different. You evaluate each one. Is it an impact one? Were they fatigued? We’ve got to make sure we’re hydrated. There’s a lot of things that go into saying, ‘Here’s why the concussion happened.’

“Sometimes it’s the game of football. And we’ve got to continuously find ways to prevent them. All of us — not just the sports science [people] — but all of us that love this game of football, how do we continue to make it more and more safe? We evaluate every single one, and they’re not all the same.

“And then some take longer to return than others. But we have a very strict return-to-play protocol that we’re always going to err on the side of safety before we allow those guys to have contact.”

On how he created a culture where players are willing to be held accountable by their teammates and why that’s important

“Well, I think you have to point out why people don’t accept criticism well, right? And because they feel personally attacked, or they don’t want to be called out in front of their peers or they don’t wanna take fault or be blamed. But at the end of the day, if you get yelled at, it’s going to help you become a better player and help us become a better team. Like, come on. What’s more important? What’s more important? 

“So that’s why it’s great to hear Jaiden [Ausberry] say that. Because we need more guys that are willing to put themselves out there, right? To — it’s OK to try something and get yelled at and be held accountable. Because at the end of the day, every person, every player that might hold you accountable, or every coach that’s going to hold you accountable, is ultimately doing it to make you better.

“You might not like getting yelled at. I don’t like getting yelled at. But at the end of the day, is that correction going to make you better? If it is, and it’s gonna make us better, then we have to be willing to accept it, right? And we have to be willing to challenge each other.

“I’m not always just saying the person doing the yelling. I have to be able to be challenged. And you have to create a culture where it’s OK to be challenged in the right way. I’ve been in cultures where — or maybe I’ve seen cultures — like, it’s just, this is it; blind obedience. That doesn’t —that’s not the way I want to do it. I’m not saying it doesn’t work. That’s not how I want to do it. 

“I want to make sure that we’re so close. We are intentional about building relationships. We trust each other because we’ve been through tough times together, that there’s going to be a time you might hold me accountable, I got to hold you accountable. And you understand because it’s just to make you better, and it’s to make us better. We have to continue to just keep promoting that. And guys like Jaiden, he understands that.”

On how he’s seen teams try to defend Carr

“I just wish he progressed right to the dig. If he just had one more second. I talked to him last night. He said, ‘I know.’ I brought up third-and-5, second series. You check this and, ‘Coach, get to the dig, I get it.’ And this is right when we met.

“But you’re seeing multiple different things. You’re seeing teams, as the last two weeks say, ‘Hey, we’re going to get down there. We’re going to stop the run, maybe, show a zero coverage. I think back to Boston College. Is that middle field safety playing (cover) zero or cover one? Like he was trying to run out there. He was showing in the box but ran out to play the middle of the field.

“So (Carr’s) just got to be able to adjust to some different looks, right? I think teams at the end of the day are still saying we can’t allow Notre Dame to run the football because that’s detrimental, right? And that’s where CJ’s got to continuously be good at recognizing what the defense is telling you. There’s tells. There’s always tells. And he’s doing an amazing job at that.

“So it just goes to the preparation, but now the experience of understanding all these different things that he’s seen, he’s able now to recognize. And I always say, ‘Recall something you see.’ All right, that’s recognized. He’s able to do that, even if they haven’t shown this look particularly this defense, he’s able to recall something he’s seen in the past that says, ‘OK, this is what coverage you’re going to. Let’s make the right decision.'”