Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1526921
30 SEPT. 28, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED NOTRE DAME HEAD COACH MARCUS FREEMAN … On balancing a 25-point win with early mistakes that could have changed the outcome: "The only thing that's different between a win and a loss is the 24 hours from now until you get back together. Our guys are going to celebrate. They won a tough game and did a good job. We are not going to shy away from that. It's hard to win. You get 12 guaranteed opportunities, and you can't take any win for granted. "So I told them to celebrate. But when we get back together, we own it. We evaluate the film. We own it. And we come up with a plan to attack the issues that we've had." On needing a dual-threat quarter- back: "You have to call things around the strengths of your players. And obviously, Riley [Leonard], one of his strengths is the ability to run the ball. And they showed today that we can run the ball and they had a lot of success." On defensive linemen Boubacar Traore and Junior Tuihalamaka: "Junior had a huge pick, I know, on the goal line. I know he made another good play. I can't remember exactly what it was — big tackle for loss. "Boubacar is playing at a high level. He's been playing at a high level in the first three games, and he's continuing to progress. We need them both. And [I'm] proud of the way they performed today." On his message to the team ahead of Week 5 versus Louisville: "I don't know if I gave them something that was, 'Let's move on to Louisville.' They know who we play. We know who we play next week. They will be ready to go. But right now, let's just celebrate. Enjoy it." NOTRE DAME GRADUATE STUDENT WIDE RECEIVER BEAUX COLLINS … On what the offense is doing well, four games into the season: "I'd say just responding. We have mistakes that we make, whether that's offensive line, receivers dropping the pass, running backs missing the read or something like that. "But we just come back next drive ready to go, like that play never even happened. We reload well, something that Coach [Freeman] instills in us and we just come back to play ball." On where Notre Dame is at in terms of reaching consistent per- formance: "I feel like we're pretty close, man. There's just small things here and there. We come in on Mon- days, rewatch the film and things like that, see what to correct. When we go to practice on Tuesday and Wednesday, we really look to fix things like that, like the small details, whether that's penalties or [missed assignments]. "As an older guy, I know what it looks like and I feel like we're right there." NOTRE DAME SENIOR QUARTERBACK RILEY LEONARD … On having trust in his wide receiv- ers: "One of the biggest things for me is I can underthrow a guy and have the confidence that — he doesn't always have to catch it — but the defender won't. And that gains a lot of trust in me. I under- threw Jayden Harrison in the end zone, and what maybe would've been a pick … he went up, made a play and it dropped at the end, but it gave me a lot of confidence. "The deep ball is getting better." On if attrition worked in Notre Dame's favor against Miami (Ohio): "Yeah, I think obviously with the way the defense played, it takes a lot of pressure off us as an offense. We're able to go out there and maybe take risks and play freely, because we know we have such a great defense that'll complement our game if we were to make a mistake. "And then up front, with the offensive line, I thought they did an outstand- ing job. Obviously, a lot of new faces in there. I say they're new faces, but these guys that are coming in have started multiple, multiple games. We might've had more total starts this first game than we had the previous two." On facing Louisville next week: "Yeah, I've played them two times in my past. It's a redemption game for me, as well as all these guys [at Notre Dame]." NOTRE DAME SOPHOMORE CORNERBACK CHRISTIAN GRAY … On his first interception of the season after several close calls: "It's just like, 'Why?' [laughs] Like, 'Oh, man.' And when I finally got it, all I could really say is just, 'Thank you, God.'" FROM THE LOCKER ROOM Sophomore cornerback Christian Gray finished with 1 tackle, 1 interception and 1 pass broken up against Miami (Ohio). PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER