Marcus Freeman breaks down the differences he's seen in Notre Dame offense

The first eight games of the 2023 season for the Notre Dame offense can be split into two categories: the first four games and the second four games.

The Fighting Irish’s opponents for the first four games included one Power Five program, one Group of Five school, one service academy and one FCS program. The team won all four games, scoring over 40 points in each matchup.

The next four games were all against ranked Power Five opponents. Three of them were undefeated heading into the game. Notre Dame escaped with a 2-2 record and the offense scoring more than 21 points only once.

Coming out of a bye this past weekend, Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman was asked during his Monday press conference about the differences he saw in his offense in the first four games compared to the next four.

“It’s the execution,” Freeman said. “We got to be better on third down but part of being better on third down is being more efficient on first and second down. There’s not just a one common theme in the last three or four games that we say this is the reason. Each game has its own different story that we have to continue to attack. Five turnovers one game. That’s a different story than last week.”

Quarterback Sam Hartman averaged 265.25 passing yards over the first four games of the year. His average dropped to 194.25 passing yards per game over the last four games. He also threw only five touchdowns with three interceptions compared to 13 scores and no picks the first third of the year.

Notre Dame will close out the regular season with games versus two 2-5 teams in Pitt and Stanford and two 4-3 teams in Clemson and Wake Forest. It is an exciting stretch for the Fighting Irish, who might be able to finish with double-digit wins and play themselves into a New Year’s Six bowl game.

“We have to continue to build confidence and take shots,” Freeman said. “Especially playing the defense we’ll play this week, you’re going to have to take some shots and some play action shots. We’re continuously looking at the things we do. But the biggest thing is the execution. The challenge will continuously be we have to simplify so the execution is at the standard we need it to be. It’s not more, more, more. It’s clear, clear, clear.”