Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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30 SEPT. 20, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED HEAD COACH MARCUS FREEMAN … On where the Irish go from here after starting 0-2: "You've got to go to work and practice and get better. We're 0-2. So, what do you control? You con- trol getting better and getting ready for the next one. I can't sit here and dwell on being 0-2 as much as I need to dwell on how do we find ways to improve? "That's what I need to dwell on, is how do we get better. How do we evalu- ate what we're doing, why things are and aren't working and how do we at- tack them and get better? So, we're 0-2, lost to two good opponents. We're guaranteed 12 [games]. That's what we always say. We've got the next one com- ing up soon." NOTRE DAME JUNIOR RUNNING BACK JEREMIYAH LOVE … On his message to his teammates: "Stay as a family unit. Don't point fin- gers at anybody else. Point fingers at yourself and see what you could have done to help this team have a better chance at success. Myself, I had a couple plays where I could have converted on the fourth down. I did not convert, so I could point a finger at myself and say, 'Hey, what if I would have done this?' "Maybe I would have changed the outcome. So, it's really just evaluating yourself. But also just keeping your head up and staying together. You know, be- ing brothers. We're all brothers in there. We love each other. So, don't point no fingers and just keep it going." NOTRE DAME JUNIOR LINEBACKER DRAYK BOWEN … On building a mentality to win the rest of their games: "We've got to fo- cus more and more on what we've got to execute, what we've got to do better. You know, obviously too many explosive plays, too many missed assignments. "So, just going back executing the details, making sure that we under- stand exactly what we're supposed to do against every look that we possibly can see." NOTRE DAME SOPHOMORE CORNERBACK LEONARD MOORE … On how he squares the talent Notre Dame has with an 0-2 record: "We've got to lean on each other through these times, obviously. And we've got to put our heads down and work. Everything that we want is still in front of us." TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH MIKE ELKO … On the Aggies' resiliency: "When you want to become a championship- level program — and we are not there yet, we have a lot of work to do to be- come that — there are going to be mo- ments like this, though, that are going to help springboard. Moments where your guys just find a way to compete and battle through everything that is happening in a game and find a way to come out victorious. "It has been well-documented how long it has been since this program has gone on the road and beat a really good team. For us to do that on the road — in South Bend, at night, against the team that was obviously desperate to save their season tonight — I just think it is the step that we had to take to move forward. "That is all we did. It took one step forward tonight. Now, we got to rest, and we got to get through the bye week, and we got to get a lot better as we head into SEC play with all of our goals in front of us." On Marcel Reed: "Just being around him every day, that narrative was never right. That narrative was one of the most unfair narratives that had ever been created. The kid was a top-10 re- turning QBR kid. He completed over 60 percent of his passes. His touchdown- to-interception rate was elite. But for some reason, because he came in, in the LSU game, and that was what every- one saw, the story just became, he can't throw. Because we did not throw with him, because we did not need to. "It was one of the more unfair stories that was ever written. And is he perfect throwing the ball? No, he still missed a couple of throws tonight I am sure he wishes he had back. And that is still a continued development for a young quarterback. But I just think he is a re- ally, really talented player." On the A&M receivers versus Notre Dame's secondary: "We felt like we would win. We felt like we would win outside. We went into the game believing we would win outside, and I think we did." FROM THE LOCKER ROOM Marcus Freeman became the first Notre Dame head coach to start a season 0-2 twice. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER