Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1539887
30 OCT. 4, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED NOTRE DAME HEAD COACH MARCUS FREEMAN … On leaving Arkansas with a vic- tory: "As I told the group, extremely proud of just the way they prepared. Was able to really kind of block out a lot of noise and go to work. And that's both sides of the ball. The ability to handle success is a challenge. And the ability to handle criticism is always a challenge. "So, I'm proud of both sides of the ball really being able to do that — han- dle praise and handle criticism. Today was a really good three-phase effort, team win. I think I told them after- wards, 'Enjoy it. This is what it's about, but let's get back to work and keep get- ting better.'" On if it's easier to block out the noise of success or the noise of criticism: "You like to use my words against me (laughs). I still go through my experiences. I still think it's a lot harder to handle success than it is ad- versity. I say this from the competitive side. I don't mind being with my back against the wall and, 'Let's go.' "But handling success, as you saw us last year have to learn, as you're see- ing us right now have to continue to remember, when people compliment you all the time and tell you how good you are, how good your offense is, it allows you maybe to become compla- cent. Once you become complacent, you start to have habits that are below the standards you set for yourself. And that's the challenge. "Do we have the critical eye as coaches and as players that we have af- ter we have adversity? That's the chal- lenge. Like, in practice and film and we're grading it, if we just lost or if we didn't play well on defense, the eye you're grading film with, the way you're teaching, the way you're practicing, has to be the same as when you have you have success. I believe in my heart it's a harder to do." NOTRE DAME REDSHIRT FRESHMAN QUARTERBACK CJ CARR … On the coaching staff being ag- gressive on fourth-down attempts: "It's awesome. I just think the trust [Coach] Free has in us to do our jobs is unbelievable. We came out on one of the fourth downs later in the first half, and it wasn't a conversation. "It was like. 'All right, we're going for it.' It's, 'I trust you guys. You're the group I want on the field.' That trust means the world to the offense." On being the first Notre Dame team to play at Arkansas: "I think it was cool. It was my first SEC opponent game and coming down here, the atmo- sphere is electric and you know the fans were going those first few drives. It's also really good to quiet them. "After a while, the fans started to go away. But it was really cool to be the first matchup." NOTRE DAME REDSHIRT SOPHOMORE SAFETY ADON SHULER … On slowing down Arkansas quar- terback Taylen Green: "Just credit to the D-line. You know, the D-line is the best DBs. If they do their job, we're going to do our job. Just kind of know- ing the route concept that he likes and their OC. "Credit to them by just kind of getting him in space and letting him work. But we just kind of kept him in the pocket and did what we have to do." On responding to Arkansas mov- ing the ball well early in the game: "Just being calm, cool and collected. Not worrying about what everybody says and just doing it for the broth- erhood and making sure our offense knows we got their back, and they got our back." ARKANSAS HEAD COACH SAM PITTMAN … On what Notre Dame did well on defense: "I think they were a little bit better in the secondary than possibly we might have thought. Really, I thought in the first half, I felt like we protected [quarterback] Taylen [Green] well, and we ran the ball real well. "One of our goals was to stay out of third-and-long. We had put ourselves into some of those situations this year and converted them, and really, we just did not today." ARKANSAS REDSHIRT SENIOR DEFENSIVE TACKLE CAMERON BALL … On Notre Dame junior running back Jeremiyah Love: "That's a heck of a player. He is a good running back. He affected us in the pass and in the run. He just a good player. There's no excuse for it." FROM THE LOCKER ROOM Marcus Freeman is now 4-1 against SEC foes since becoming the head coach at Notre Dame. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER