Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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32 FEBRUARY 2022 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED NOTRE DAME HEAD COACH MARCUS FREEMAN … On moving on from the loss: "More than anything, I think there's a group that's, one, disappointed, but two, motivated — motivated to right what happened today and to start the pro- gression for the future. As I told them 28 days ago, this is about right now. This is about finishing this season off the right way. "Wouldn't happen. And it's OK. All we can do now is start focusing on what we'll do as we move forward to make sure that we're successful the next time we're on a field." On his message to Notre Dame fans: "They deserve a winning product. They deserve a team that every week goes out there and wins. It's our job to make sure we prepare and do everything necessary to give this team, the fan base, the uni- versity, and everybody else that deserves a really, really good product out on that field. "So, we'll get back to work. That's the only thing we know how to do." On Tyler Buchner's lack of playing time: "You look at the way our offense is moving the ball the first half. I don't think Coach [Tommy] Rees wanted to make that change, and he wanted to keep that thing going. "As you get to the second half, they did a good job getting some three-and-outs; but, obviously, not until the fourth quarter did the lead change, in terms of who was in the lead. So I think at that point, you know, you're just going to ride with Jack." On Oklahoma State exploiting the Notre Dame sec- ondary: "We knew they were going to go fast, and they did. We prepared for it, but at the end of the day, they still executed a little bit better than we did defensively. "We wanted to play some zone early in the game, and they were starting to exploit that zone. So we said, OK, let's change the play to a little bit more man." On learning from the loss: "You obviously wanted a vic- tory, but I think we can all learn from it, myself included. Look at every situation, say, 'Hey, is there something you can do differently? Is there a time-out you could have called? Is there something defensively you could've done? Maybe a suggestion offensively we could have done?' It's a learning situation." NOTRE DAME GRADUATE STUDENT QUARTERBACK JACK COAN … On the Irish offense slowing down in the second half: "I feel like they were just making more plays, to be honest. I don't think they were doing anything crazy to confuse me or the offense. "At the end of the day, they were just making plays and we weren't. I would say that was the biggest thing." On Notre Dame freshman tackles Blake Fisher and Joe Alt: "I think the freshman tackles did an amazing job. Those guys are unbelievably talented, and they work extremely hard. I have all the trust in the world in those guys. "The fact that they're going to be here the next few years is pretty scary for other teams." On freshman quarterback Tyler Buchner: "It's been amazing watching him grow. He's just a super smart guy. He picked up the offense extremely well and is continuing to learn it more in depth each and every day. I got to watch that throughout every practice. "He's an amazing athlete. He's an amazing thrower. He's going to be electric to watch next year, and I'm super excited." NOTRE DAME JUNIOR LINEBACKER JD BERTRAND … On graduate student linebacker Drew White: "Drew has been awesome to me. Even in the locker room today throughout the whole game, he's there, he's talking to me. And he's just been a good person to be able to lean on. "I've been able to lean on him a lot. He's been able to pick me up, teach me things, just the little details of the game that you don't necessarily pick up from just watching film and things like that." On Freeman coaching his first game as head coach: "I think Coach Freeman has done an awesome job. I think he prepared us really well. He had us ready for the high tempo. It wasn't schematically, it was the little details that we missed tackles. "We didn't win the 50-50 balls, those little details. And we need to make sure we do that better, and it's on us." On the mindset heading into the offseason: "I think it starts by each of us looking at our own performance and seeing what we need to get better, not just this game but throughout the entire season. "And then taking it from there and becoming closer as a group and loving each other and being able to work throughout this entire season to be able to come back for that first game against Ohio State." FROM THE LOCKER ROOM Junior linebacker JD Bertrand made nine tackles (two for loss) against Oklahoma State and finished the season with a team-best 102 stops. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER