Marcus Freeman's Message Resonates as Notre Dame Dominates Boston College
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman didn’t hide the fact that this week had the potential to be a letdown when he spoke five days ago.
Boston College is a breathing football team, and in rivalry games, anything can happen.
Well, Notre Dame didn’t allow the Eagles to gain any momentum, ending any hopes of an upset early in Saturday evening’s 41-7 win.
For Heisman contender CJ Carr, moving on from the win over Miami was easy. The Irish offense still had plenty to fix.
“We do this with losses a lot, but what can we take from that game against Miami into this next week,” stated Carr. “You want to flush the feelings and maybe the urge to stay in that Saturday and in that moment, but I think we can take the detail and the preparation that we had from that week and use that to propel us into this week and the weeks beyond.”
Perhaps the entire college football world acknowledging Boston College could be a trap game for Notre Dame added some extra fuel to the fire throughout the week.
Offensive lineman Anthonie Knapp heard the noise and made sure everyone in the program understood what needed to be done to win.
“We practice hard and I think that's one of the cool things about this campus and our team is that we're going to go out there and regardless of the win we had, regardless of the opponent we have coming up, we know what we have to do to be in the moment.
“The outcome of the game gets determined by Tuesday, Wednesday, basically the whole week coming up. I think that just kind of gives us all confidence to go out here and go perform and cut it loose.”
Notre Dame defensive end Boubacar Traore made a statement just before halftime, essentially putting the game out of reach.
Traore worked his way around the edge to strip-sack Boston College quarterback Mason McKenzie, and linebacker Jaylen Sneed recovered the fumble in the end zone to put the Irish ahead 28-0.
“It starts off with trying to get a good get off and then kind of just work like a pull through kind of like attacking that outside arm,” Traore said, “Then just after that just reach in with my left arm as much as I can. I'm just trying to make something happen.”
And yes, Traore would have loved to scoop up the ball and score himself, but Sneed had other plans.
“Sneed, he was gonna do whatever to get that ball,” laughed Traore. “So I was just like, yeah, he was already on top of it. Everybody eats, I guess.”
Senior safety Luke Talich believed Saturday's performance showed everyone what Notre Dame is capable of in 2026.
It wasn't an easy week, with distractions at every turn and the challenge of defending a dangerous scrambling quarterback. However, the Irish defense stepped up.
McKenzie finished the night completing just 8-of-21 passes for 51 yards and an interception.
“Coming off a big win like Miami, the emphasis was just focused on this game,” Talich explained. “It was a big challenge. We didn't want to have a letdown game. That was kind of the emphasis and we had a good quarterback, so we were able to get after him and put a lot of pressure on him.”
Freeman was also proud of his team. Notre Dame delivered a dominant performance on both sides of the ball, showing once again that his players were listening to their head coach.
“I think there were a lot of distractions this week, a lot of outside noise that can tell you you're going to overlook this one or 1993. It's important they know the history. It's important that they understand there's a lot of evidence of teams having a letdown after a big win.
“I thought the leadership was spot on this week. I thought the guys understood the challenge they had in front of us, and they went out and played that way.”
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