Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1479280
30 SEPT. 24, 2022 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED HEAD COACH MARCUS FREEMAN … On his first win at Notre Dame: "I keep trying to tell myself to enjoy it. There's a lot of coaching that happened on that field today that we can learn from, but if you don't take a minute to enjoy these things you're going to regret it. "That's what I keep reminding myself is enjoy this victory. We'll get back to work tomorrow, but again, I want to celebrate with those guys." On the overall play of his team: "Did not love the way we played in the first half. I've got to go back and watch the film and see what the issues were. "I know offensively we had a couple three-and-outs. We fumbled the ball the first half. We weren't playing clean foot- ball. Defensively we held them to 10 points, but we have to be better." On the confidence of the defensive line: "There was one point Jayson Ademilola in the second half, he walked over to me and he said, 'Coach, I got you. I got you.' Went out and made a sack. That's what you want, man. You want some guys to take ownership in the performance on the field. "That's a deep group. Coach Wash [Al Washington] does an excellent job with that group, and we're going to need them all. We're going to need them all to have a relentless pass rush." On the team's mindset moving forward: "We didn't play a perfect game but we found a way to win, and we're going to do that after a victory. We're going to have to go back on Sun- day, [after we] enjoy this thing tonight, and take a deep dive into where we have to execute better and what we have to do. But it's a lot better after a win." JUNIOR QUARTERBACK DREW PYNE … On his first win: "Winning is a great feeling. That locker room is something I'll remember for the rest of my life. I'm so thankful to come out victorious." On what he learned about himself in the win: "Deep down in my heart, the way I was raised by my parents to never give up, I didn't start out too hot but in my head I was like, 'Never give up.' "That's how I'm going to be throughout the rest of my life. Throughout the rest of my career. Never give up." On Tommy Rees' tough coaching: "I saw that video. Coach [Tommy] Rees, I tell him to be hard on me. I texted him this Sunday and I said, 'I want you to be very hard on me in practice.' He wants you to treat practice like a game, and I want him to as well. "That's the standard he holds me to, and that's what I ask for. I respond well to hard coaching." On feeling himself settle down: "I saw everything the way I thought I would. I watched film all week. I saw every- thing on the field the right way. It wasn't anything mental. It was all physical errors. That's what we expected. "Coach Rees always puts us in a great position to play well and succeed. I've just got to go out there and execute. I started getting it rolling." SENIOR DEFENSIVE TACKLE JACOB LACEY … On senior end Isaiah Foskey's resilience: "We definitely have one of the toughest if not the toughest defensive lines in the country. We all get banged up, but we have the resiliency to fight through everything. "We still make plays. It's just fun to watch." On the emotions of the final minute: "It was a roller coaster, for sure. We got the interception and then the fumble recovery. You're up and down. But we knew as soon as we were on the field the game was ours. "We weren't worried about the next play. We weren't wor- ried about them scoring. Honestly, we just needed to execute. And that's what we did." On the play of the Notre Dame defense in the fourth quarter: "It's everything we work for. It was one of our keys to victory, finishing in the fourth quarter. We talk about it every week. "We fell short a couple times, but now we're on the right track. But we could still be better. We had some mistakes." On Freeman's message after the game: "It was definitely more electric, for sure. It was fun, the locker room felt great. His message was, 'This is not it.' This is just the start. "We're only going forward from here. We're going to enjoy this one, see where we messed up and get back to work." FROM THE LOCKER ROOM Junior Drew Pyne became the 15th Fighting Irish starting quarterback to win his starting debut at Notre Dame Stadium since 1998. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER