Marcus Freeman at halftime of Ohio State-Notre Dame: I'm really pleased with what I saw

As big-time underdog Notre Dame headed into the locker room at halftime leading host Ohio State, 10-7, first-year head coach Marcus Freeman spoke with ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe about his team’s first half performance. All-in-all, Freeman had a lot to be content with.

On offense, the Irish had found a bit of consistency with new starting quarterback Tyler Buchner settling in and managed to slow the vaunted Buckeyes offense. In particular, an early long completion from Buchner — that set up a Notre Dame field goal to break the scoring seal — is the kind of confidence building play Freeman wanted.

“Those are confidence builders,” Freeman said. “This is his first game as a starter. We need plays like that to build our confidence. We’ve got to be able to run the ball to build our confidence. And get some stops on defense which we’re doing a good job.”

As for the defense stymying Ohio State’s offense — aided by Jaxon Smith-Njigba missing some time with an apparent leg injury — Freeman wants to keep mixing up coverage and tackling in space.

“Well I think they’re just continuing to challenge them,” Freeman said. “And they’ll get a play here or there. But we tell ‘em ‘One play, one life.’ Continue to move forward. They’re doing a really good job of mixing up some coverages and tackling well.”

And with a three-point lead in the opener on the road as a multi-score underdog, Freeman can head into halftime pretty content.

“I’m really pleased with what I saw,” he said.

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“It’s weird, I was telling Chris, I said I was here three years ago at Cincinnati,” shared Freeman with the officials. “I said, it’s a little bit different coming in here as the head coach with Notre Dame. You know what I mean? It’s a little bit different, I didn’t think it was gonna be that much.”

Freeman has had plenty of career experience coaching following his Ohio State career, even after spending the 2010 season as a graduate assistant with the Buckeyes. After stints at Kent State and Purdue as a coach, he accepted the defensive coordinator position with Cincinnati in 2017 — where he last made a trip to Ohio State as an opponent.

Despite that experience, even Freeman had to admit that being the opposing head coach against a school he used to star for was an incredible experience.