Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 29, 2022 7 BY PATRICK ENGEL M arcus Freeman left his office Oct. 16 feeling like he had answers to address the numerous calamities that occurred the prior evening. His grasp on what hap‑ pened was stronger, he said. It made him feel "better." Not about the result, obvi‑ ously, but how to attack the road ahead. His solo rewatch of Notre Dame's 16‑14 loss to Stanford in the wee hours of Sunday morning didn't leave him with that same sentiment. Combing through the film in separate reviews with the offensive and defensive staff, though, gave him a sense of command. That's a starting point to pulling the wheel around after a result that showed his grip on it was less firm than a three‑ game win streak indicated. "I felt better because I had the an‑ swers," Freeman said. "But the other part is what aren't we doing to do it?" He knows the broad answer: Not exe‑ cuting. He said a version of that more than 20 times in his 15‑minute press confer‑ ence after the Stanford game. He's aware not every execution misstep is the play‑ ers' sole responsibility. Those answers he found in film study ought to cover coach‑ ing execution mistakes, too. That's where he will start before getting to player er‑ rors. And he will start with himself. "I'm the first one to say, 'Here are ar‑ eas where I have to improve,'" Freeman said. "Every person in our program has to be transparent about that. The min‑ ute you start pointing fingers at players, you lose them. The minute you blame the coaches for everything, you'll lose them. It's the ability for everyone in our program to point the finger at ourselves. "Those are honest conversations you have to have, because we owe it to this program, to the seniors, to our play‑ ers, to execute better and get the results where they need to be." Freeman has made his introspective side evident since he first arrived at Notre Dame in January 2021 as defen‑ sive coordinator. His willingness to look inward helped him ensure a bumpy first two games from his defense last season didn't spiral into a full season. He made tweaks then. Schematic changes were a significant part of those adjustments, especially last year's. This time, it's a larger‑scale task. He's not just running a defense. His messaging, emphases and how he structures the week of preparation are as much a focus as anything else. But scheme and in‑game decisions are still on his plate. Perhaps part of the finger‑pointing at himself will be telling the team he should have called a time‑ out before a fourth‑and‑2 play at Stan‑ ford's 5‑yard line in the second quarter. Notre Dame had planned to unleash a jet sweep with wide receiver Jayden Thomas on Stanford all week. Freeman and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees thought it would be a tendency‑breaker and should beat the goal‑line defenses Stanford put on film its first five games. The Cardinal threw a curveball, though. Freeman still swung away. "They had shown they would stack the box, and we were going to be able to get it on the jet sweep with JT," he said. "Then all of a sudden, I hear Coach Rees say over the headset, 'Shoot, that's not the look.' I probably in that moment should have called a timeout. But I still felt confident. Just run it." Stubbornness can be a lack of execution, too. It's one reason why that play didn't work. The Irish staff talks about putting players in the best position to execute, and that was an instance of not doing so. Freeman has to wear that mistake. He should come away from it knowing how to proceed the next time he sees a swerve. The goal is to get everyone in the building in that same position so mistakes aren't repeated or don't hap‑ pen without anyone knowing why. Freeman and Notre Dame's staff feel they have answers. What matters most is turning them into results and changes, which Freeman couldn't do well enough or for long enough to avoid a second home loss to a foe with zero FBS wins. "It's easy to put the blame on a certain group, a certain person, a certain coach," Freeman said. "But there are areas for ev‑ erybody to improve. How do you get that message and those lessons to your players? "You're honest. It's the same message I seek after a win. We have to seek this feedback. We have to want to know how to improve. Don't tell us where we did a good job. What do I have to do to get better?" Freeman has to ask that same ques‑ tion to himself with the same level of honesty – and show his players he puts the same demands on his shoulders as he does on theirs. ✦ UNDER THE DOME PRACTICING WHAT HE PREACHES Marcus Freeman understands his emphasis on execution applies to the coaches, too Freeman has vowed to get to the root of Notre Dame's inconsistent execution, and that includes self-study. PHOTO BY KAYDEE GAWLIK