Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame Preparing for Coaching Crossover vs. Wisconsin
There’s plenty of crossover between the coaching staffs at Notre Dame and Wisconsin, which means there might be a game within the game when the Fighting Irish and Badgers meet Sunday night at Lambeau Field.
Notre Dame has five coaches with direct ties to Luke Fickell, while Wisconsin boasts several staffers with ties to Marcus Freeman and Ohio State. The Badgers also have Christian Gray’s high school head coach, Robert Steeples, coaching the cornerbacks this fall.
And it’s no secret what both teams want to do.
Fickell and Freeman want to run the football, play great defense and physically dominate the game on both sides of the ball.
Freeman admitted Notre Dame has already done some self-scouting, especially given that Fickell coached with both of his coordinators, including a national championship at Ohio State with defensive coordinator Chris Ash.
“As you have the same coordinators, you're always gonna self-evaluate tendencies, tells, and make sure you're not predictable,” stated Freeman. “You can't always do the same, like they always do this or they never do this. I think it's important for us to make sure we self-scout that, which we've done.”
On the flip side, Notre Dame faces the challenge of preparing for a Wisconsin team with plenty of new personnel.
The Badgers added 33 transfers to the roster, which complicates preparation for the season opener even with both coordinators returning. While Notre Dame will have an idea of what Wisconsin wants to do, Freeman knows his staff and players need to be prepared for new wrinkles.
“It's always a challenge preparing for an opponent week one with new personnel,” Freeman said. “I think they have 30 or so transfers and then the coordinators are back. Every offseason, every football program looks to elevate their scheme. It will be evolving and you won't see exactly what you saw last year.”
The good news for Notre Dame is that its roster is filled with players capable of making plays even when things don’t go exactly according to plan.
Still, Freeman understands the importance of putting his players in the best possible position to succeed. That includes breaking some of the tendencies opponents might have picked up on from previous seasons.
“You're not trying to trick the opponent, you are just trying to give your team a chance to execute at the highest level possible,” Freeman explained. “That's sometimes being unpredictable. I think it's important, through self-scouting, that we continue to evaluate some of the tendencies we've had in the past.”
Perhaps even more important than avoiding predictability is simply playing clean football.
Freeman understands there will be penalties in the first game of the season, and he’s willing to live with some aggressive penalties that come with playing physical football. What he doesn’t want is Notre Dame beating itself.
“The execution is always important, the ability to take care of the ball,” said Freeman. “We gotta have great ball security, the pre-snap penalties will reflect the discipline we have as a football unit. The aggressive penalties, those come with the game of football. We can't beat Notre Dame with pre-snap penalties because of a lack of focus, so that's the thing that's important to me.”
With Heisman contender CJ Carr returning at quarterback, expectations are high for Notre Dame’s offense.
Freeman certainly isn’t going to turn down big plays when they’re available, but efficiency will be the priority Sunday night.
“How are we really flowing as an offense in terms of not putting our offense in negative situations,” Freeman stated. “And again, I'm not worried about the big plays, I'm just worried about an efficient offense and an offense that continues to execute at a high level.”
Wisconsin might not have the same talent level as Miami or Texas A&M, but it’s a far cry from opening the season against a Group of 5 opponent.
The Irish should have a pretty good feel for where they stand as a program when they arrive back in South Bend Monday morning.
“It's going to be a great challenge for us and a great way to see where we are as a program versus a good opponent at Lambeau Field on Sunday night,” said Freeman.
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