Three Takeaways from Marcus Freeman’s Presser: Penalties, Wildcat Tweaks and Momentum

Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman spoke to the media on Monday following the Irish’s 28-7 win over Boise State. 

Here are three takeaways from Freeman’s press conference. 

‘Too many penalties for the team we aspire to be’

Notre Dame was bit by the penalty bug on Saturday.

The Irish committed 11 infractions for 112 yards, and while it didn’t ultimately cost them, the issue is something that will need to be addressed throughout the week. 

“We gotta clean up some of the penalties,” Freeman said. “That's something that sticks out. Way too many penalties for the team we aspire to be.” 

Freeman did make it a point however to distinguish between “aggressive” and “undisciplined” penalties. False starts, offsides and unnecessary roughness calls can be drive killers — and they were for Notre Dame against the Broncos. 

“I always say there's a difference between aggressive penalties and undisciplined penalties,” Freeman said. “The undisciplined ones have really been the ones we've been able to prevent the first couple games of the year, but false starts and offsides and late hits out of bounds, those are undisciplined penalties that we can't have, and we gotta make sure we clean those up with urgency.” 

The proof was in the pudding regarding penalties killing drives Saturday. The Irish scored touchdowns on every drive that they didn’t commit a penalty. A big reason why the game was tight in the second half was more Notre Dame killing themselves than Boise State executing a great game plan. 

“That's not the only reason, but that's a huge reason,” Freeman said. “We can't put ourselves behind the sticks because of a negative yardage play or a penalty, right?  That's called beating Notre Dame. If we don't beat Notre Dame, we're gonna be hard to beat, but we can't put ourselves behind the sticks because of penalties.” 

Expect Freeman and the Irish to make penalties a point of emphasis leading into NC State. 

“You always try to clean up some of the aggressive penalties with technique and playing with proper technique,” Freeman said. “The undisciplined penalties are ones that have to be expedited with urgency.” 

‘It’s a growing package’ 

Notre Dame’s offense once again turned to a wildcat formation during a critical play against Boise State. Facing a 4th and 1 at the goal line, Jeremiah Love received a direct snap and was stuffed for no gain. 

It’s a formation that offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock has turned to numerous times in the team’s first five games — with mixed results. 

For Freeman, it wasn’t as much the offense not executing, but the Broncos defense reacting differently than they thought they would. 

“They didn't really do what we exactly thought they were gonna do,” Freeman said. “It's not that we had never seen that look. They didn't do exactly what we thought they were gonna do with the play action we did with that play. 

“As you look at it now, you say, Oh, let's try to keep it inside. As we prepared for that, we thought it was gonna hit right there in that C, D gap and there was a lot of people in that C and D gap that we didn't expect to be there.”

Going forward, expect Notre Dame to continue to use the package, especially in short yardage. Freeman also isn’t ruling out variations of the formation. 

“It's a growing package, right?” Freeman said. “We had some success with it and we didn't have success on that fourth-and-one situation on the goal line. How do we keep growing it? At some point, if we gotta throw the ball to CJ Carr as a wideout, maybe we have to do that to get somebody to respect him.

“But yes, it's an evolution. Again, it's not just, let's try things out. It's like, do we believe this package can give us a chance in a short-yardage situations or a non-short yard situation to have success? If we do, let's find ways to continue to enhance it and that's what we're trying to do.” 

‘We can’t rely on momentum’  

Freeman is a believer in momentum — he just doesn’t want his team believing they’ll win because they have it. 

The Irish have rattled off three wins in a row and, for the most part, looked impressive in each one. Look at what they’ve done and what’s ahead of them, they have some real momentum building going into the second week of October. 

But momentum isn’t going to beat NC State. 

“I think as you look back at something, you believe in momentum,” Freeman said. “You say, ‘man, we gained some momentum.’ I believe there's a confidence that helps with momentum that success brings you, but I don't believe you can rely on momentum to achieve an outcome that you want. 

“I believe you achieve the desired outcome by the work you put in every single day. There's a little bit of fear if we don't put in the work, we're not gonna get the result that we desire. We can't rely on momentum, but I think as you look back, momentum is a real thing.”