Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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54 OCT. 3, 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED M arcus Freeman used to work at Texas Roadhouse, where he learned to " keep it in the kitchen." Those five words appeared on a kitchen-door sign at the restaurant where Freeman worked as a busboy during college (pre-NIL, he made sure to point out). It became a maxim the fifth-year Notre Dame head coach still uses today. "The customers can't see inside the kitchen," Freeman said. "It can be messy, stuff all over the floor, plates, dirty stuff. It's a mess, but when you walk outside those doors, the customers, they can't know. It has to be perfect." During Notre Dame's 27-10 victory over Michigan State Sept. 19, Freeman felt he broke that rule. After rushing for a 1-yard touchdown in the second quarter, junior running back Aneyas Williams brought the rest of the offense together and seemed to mime the action of revving up a lawnmower, or perhaps a chainsaw. Either way, that ac- tion drew a 15-yard excessive celebration penalty that had Freeman irate. The NBC broadcast showed Freeman immediately after Williams' celebra- tion. His facial expression began with confusion but quickly shifted to red-hot anger. He shouted, "What are we do- ing?!" multiple times, each with more emotion than the last. When Williams jogged back to the sideline, Freeman gave him an animated talking-to that made it clear he was furious. After reflecting on the incident, Free- man apologized to Williams. For a brief moment, he felt he had let the mess spill out of the kitchen. "I told him I was proud of him," Free- man said at his weekly press conference Monday afternoon. "He's got a lot on his plate and a lot of expectations. He puts a lot of pressure on himself to be this great running back, and he just works tremen- dously. I'm really proud of who he is and the leadership that he leads with. "I think we can all learn from that play, that moment. We can't hurt our team, but I also have to be more aware of what environment I'm coming into." SHIELDING FROM THE OUTSIDE WORLD The "keep it in the kitchen" meta- phor, as you probably guessed, is about keeping your more visceral reactions where only people inside the program can see them. "If that situation happened in practice, I'd have no problem with my animation and getting after him, because he trusts me," Freeman said. "Aneyas knows that I care about him. But I don't want outsiders and people that don't know the relation- ship I have with our players to see that, because then you can make your own nar- rative or opinion of our relationship. "I didn't love that, and I apologized for it." Freeman explained his thought pro- cess behind his reaction, as well as his more nuanced view of the situation two days later. In the moment, he said, his response was "to correct." Williams' infraction had cost Notre Dame 15 yards, and it was a sig- nificant 15 yards. The penalty was enforced on the ensuing kickoff, giving Michigan State's dangerous kickoff return unit a chance to impact the game. The Spartans brought the ball back to the 32-yard line, and they scored their lone touchdown of the evening three plays later. However, for a number of reasons, Freeman now believes the ferocity of his reaction was over the top. "He probably didn't receive the mes- sage in the way it was intended because of my animation. I wanted to grab him and say, 'Hey, here's why I was upset,'" Freeman said. "We're very proactive. We spend a lot of time trying to learn from mistakes of others, and for us to get penalized for that, I was disap- pointed. But I also wanted to make sure he received the message the right way." AGAINST THE RULES, BUT NOT NOTRE DAME'S CULTURE Freeman doesn't normally watch the TV copy of a Notre Dame football game, but he made an exception for Williams' penalty. The coaches' film didn't show either the celebration or Freeman's reaction to it, so he put on the NBC broadcast. When he watched the latter, he didn't like it for the many reasons listed above. But when he watched the former, his attitude toward Williams' penalty itself softened a little bit. The celebration Williams was flagged for was not disrespectful to Michigan State, but more importantly for his head coach, the entire offense was involved. Freeman has two major philosophies on celebrations: hand the ball to the official and celebrate with your teammates. Williams was penalized because the celebration was choreographed — con- duct generally permitted in the NFL but prohibited under the college rule. "I talked to the head of the ACC of- ficials," Freeman said. "And he said, 'Look, we want more spontaneous. If they're going celebrate, make it spon- taneous. Don't be so choreographed.'" Williams — and the rest of the of- fense, including two captains in CJ Carr and Jordan Faison — should have known the rule. But amid rampant criticism for his play on the field as well, Freeman felt it was more important for Williams to know he had his back. "I reached out to him," Freeman said. "I told him, one, 'I love you.' But two, the team has to learn from this play — myself included." ✦ Marcus Freeman apologized to Aneyas Williams (No. 22) for his reaction to Williams' 15-yard unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty in the Michigan State game. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER Keeping It In The Kitchen Staff writer Jack Soble has covered Notre Dame athletics for Blue & Gold Illustrated since August 2023. Contact him at Jack.Soble@on3.com. OFF THE DOME JACK SOBLE