Marcus Freeman addresses pressure facing Notre Dame staff, players after 0-2 start

Notre Dame‘s 0-2 start after being ranked No. 5 at the beginning of the season has spoiled what many believed would be a fast start out of the gates for new Irish headman Marcus Freeman. Losing to Ohio State in a fairly competitive matchup is one thing, but to fall to Marshall in a game where Notre Dame was downright outplayed from whistle-to-whistle is another.

That start is unacceptable for a program that expects to find itself in the College Football Playoff, and no one’s feeling the pressure more than Freeman. Though, the last thing he wants is his players feeling they need to be the ones owning up for his mistakes.

“I think that the focus from myself to our team has been that we have to look at why we haven’t been successful the first two games and really study it and put into action in practice the things we’ve learned that it’s going to take to make sure that we have success on Saturdays,” Freeman said. “So that’s the pressure that I, as the head coach, and us as our coaching staff has put on our players is, ‘here’s what we have to do to have success, here’s what we can’t do if we want to have success,’ and now let’s make sure in practice that we execute exactly what we’re looking for to a tee.

“As I told them, if you continue to listen to all the voices out there that have opinions about what you’re doing, or what we’re doing as a football program, you will feel the weight of the world. Focus on the things that matter to dictate the outcome on Saturday. That’s what I want the pressure being on. What things truly dictate the outcome of a game and if we continue to focus on those things, we don’t have to worry about added pressure from the outside. Don’t play for coach Freeman.”

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Marcus Freeman remains winless as headman of the Fighting Irish, and 0-3 as a head coach. Things won’t be getting any easier, either with games against North Carolina, BYU, Clemson and USC still on the docket for Notre Dame, Freeman’s first season could be a long one in 2022. He’s forced to take this season one game at a time.

“We’re gonna play to make sure that we have a chance to have success. That’s what the really the focus and the message has been,” Freeman said. “Let’s be critical of our actions in the game and then really take those actions and say, ‘Okay, how do we apply that to the way we practice?’ And to ensure that in the game there is no miscommunication, there is no missed assignments, there is no missed execution. That’s what we really been focusing on this week.”