Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1509252
30 OCT. 14, 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED NOTRE DAME HEAD COACH MARCUS FREEMAN … On placing blame for the loss: "You can point your finger at any person, any specific unit, but the reality is, we've got to point the finger at ourselves and figure out what were the is- sues that led to the lack of execution. "We obviously know we have to take care of football. You can't turn the ball over five times and expect to win." On what comes next: "A lot of self-reflection. We're gonna have to do a deep dive into exactly where the shortcom- ings happened. We got to get this thing figured out. "We got to turn it around because we've got USC coming in next weekend. So we don't have a lot of time to feel sorry for ourselves. We better get back to work and start preparing for this next upcoming game." On why he went for it on fourth-and-11 on Notre Dame's own 35-yard line, down 11 with 9:49 left in the game: "Two-score game, right? So, we played the, 'Hey, we either got to get a three-and-out — we punt the ball.' Hope- fully, we get enough time to have two separate possessions. "Or you try to convert right there and play the percentages of, 'Okay, even if you don't convert here, [they] go three and out, [they're] forced to kick the field goal.' So, it was still a two [possession game]. That went into my decision." On graduate nickel cornerback Thomas Harper's ab- sence: "Yeah, he was out with a concussion. And so he's in concussion protocol. He wasn't ready to return to play. So C- Lew [senior nickel cornerback Clarence Lewis] did a good job stepping in there, and Cam Hart had some nickel reps. "Obviously, you don't want to lose a great player like Thomas Harper, but we expect him to be back next week." Final statement, unprompted: "We have a lot more work to do." NOTRE DAME JUNIOR OFFENSIVE TACKLE JOE ALT … On the rotation at guard and center: "We did know that going in, that we were gonna do some adjustments in there. A couple series here and there, we were gonna change it up, we knew going in. "We practiced all week. We prepared for it. We got to work with everybody who we're gonna play next to, so we prepared going into it." On responding from the loss and helping his team- mates respond as a captain and a leader: "The first thing you got to do is get in the film room, and we got to analyze our mistakes. You got to start with yourself. I got to start with myself and see what I did wrong and what I need to do better, and then you work as a group. "On the offensive line, how are we gonna get better? And as a leader, you got to make sure you keep everyone together. We got to focus on ourselves and how we get better from this game, learn from our mistakes and move on." NOTRE DAME GRADUATE STUDENT LINEBACKER JD BERTRAND … On Louisville running back Jawhar Jordan's two long touchdown runs: "Yeah, honestly we just need to be assign- ment-sound and make sure everyone's in our gaps. It's hard talking about it right now. We haven't seen the film. "We'll obviously go back and just make sure guys are in their gaps and we're playing to the ball, and just make sure we get as many hats to the ball as possible." On why he was one of the last Notre Dame players off the field: "I just wanted to stay out there and make sure all our guys got in and don't get caught out there [with Louisville fans storming the field]. That was the main thing." On turning it around: "The biggest thing is to get back to work. That obviously starts when the wheels of the plane hit the ground tomorrow, or I guess this morning. Just make sure we get back to work and make sure each guy finds that thing to get better at. Defensively, we need to make sure we're playing complementary football. We can't lose that takeaway battle, and so that's one of the big things that we're gonna be empha- sizing and we got to do better." LOUISVILLE HEAD COACH JEFF BROHM … On holding Notre Dame to 81 sack-adjusted rushing yards: "Yes, we were going to scheme them to stop the run. You have to do that or they're going to run you over. They're big up front, they've got a big running back, big tight ends and we were aggressive in our packages against their personnel looks. "We were going to make them beat us throwing the football, make them throw it over our heads." FROM THE LOCKER ROOM Head coach Marcus Freeman said he and his team will be doing "a lot of self- reflection" after a humbling loss to Louisville. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER