Notre Dame Embracing Freeman's Message as Irish Turn Attention to Boston College

Notre Dame made a statement on Saturday night with its 31-24 win over Miami, a game that had a little bit of everything.

Marcus Freeman's program jumped out to a commanding 24-3 lead, but then had to make game-winning plays in the fourth quarter to overcome injuries and a furious Miami comeback.

Now, the Irish are tasked with moving on from the Miami game and that starts with correcting mistakes this weekend against Boston College.

“There are plays all over the game that you can evaluate and say we didn't reach our full potential on this play,” explained Freeman. “There was somebody or a concept that we didn't get executed well. How do we attack it?

“We got to own it first. Maybe we didn't do it enough, so he understood this was the leverage you have to play. Maybe we didn't show him that look and so how do we identify that and then come up with a process that gives us a better chance to execute that on Saturdays.” 

With big wins comes the potential for a letdown. It's something that happens across college football every season. BYU and Georgia both picked up significant wins last month before falling the following week to unranked opponents.

Freeman isn't hiding from the fact that this happens on a yearly basis. In fact, he spent time studying what contributes to teams struggling the week after a big win.

“It's easy to say that's not gonna be us, but it's a real thing,” stated Freeman. “If you do enough studying on it, there's an issue after big wins and teams having letdowns the next week. I even did a little study of what do the coaches say after they lose? It's very common themes. It's we weren't disciplined, we didn't have a great week of prep. We're not mature.” 

So how does Freeman make sure his program doesn't fall into that trap against a 4-5 Boston College team?

It starts with him and his coaching staff.

“It's our job as coaches to make sure we're prepared,” Freeman said. “You don't blame the players. You mandate that we prepare in a way that doesn't allow us to have a letdown. When I say a letdown, I'm not talking outcome of game, I'm talking about performance in the way you play.

“What you'll see is third down's an issue, turnover margin's an issue, penalties are an issue. There are some common themes that we have to understand; it's a real thing. We have to make sure we remember that as we prepare for this next opponent, so we gotta get to work.” 

Perhaps the most encouraging thing Freeman learned about his team on Saturday was that his players are embracing his messaging.

Freeman preached to his team that the Miami game would be a dogfight, and the Irish didn't panic when the Hurricanes made a push in the second half.

In fact, Freeman heard his messaging being repeated on the sideline.

“I was most proud of what I heard late in the game when it was a one-score game,” stated Freeman. “You heard them saying, 'This is what Coach talked about.' I told them at some point there was going to be a struggle. I used examples of fog. The fog is coming.

“I kept hearing them saying the fog is coming. That's when you can't see what's in front of you. You don't know how close you are to your destination. I said at some point it's coming.”

Even with a 21-point lead, the Irish had to battle intrusive thoughts that the fog wasn’t coming. 

“At 24-3, you had that little thing creep into your head, maybe it's not,” Freeman said of the fog. “Maybe we already got through it. Then it started happening. For whatever reason, we got to make sure we do things to not let it be a one-score game. But it was a one-score game.

“Our guys were like, ‘Look, we're good. Don't panic. We're good. Execute on this play. Like this play is the only play that matters.’ That's what showed me they're listening. They're not panicking. They embrace it if they're in a struggle. We don't have to do anything crazy. Let's just execute on this play, and that shows you they're a maturing team.”  

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