Marcus Freeman disappointed, takes ownership for Notre Dame's loss to Louisville

Marcus Freeman was quite disappointed in Notre Dame’s upset loss to Louisville Saturday night, but took full ownership of the defeat.

The loss all but ended the Fighting Irish’s chances at the College Football Playoff this season, now sitting at 5-2 through seven games. The 33-20 loss to the Cardinals was seemingly out of character as Notre Dame gave up 16 points in the fourth quarter.

But it was Freeman who put the loss on himself and his staff, for failure to have proper preparation.

“Obviously just disappointed in the performance, you know, we got to take ownership as a coaching staff first, right,” Freeman said postgame. “Our guys weren’t prepared for whatever reason, we got to take a deep dive and figure out what it was, you know, it’s, you can point your finger at any person, any specific unit, but the reality is, we better point to figure out ourselves and figure out what were the issues that lead to lack of execution. 

“And so we obviously know we got to take care of the football. Can’t turn the ball over five times and expect to win.” 

It wasn’t a great night for quarterback Sam Hartman. He went 22-of-38 passing for 254 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions.

However, Freeman stood by his signal caller, not placing the blame on one player.

“But you know, I know everybody’s going to point the finger at Sam, you better point the finger at us, at me,” Freeman said. “We got to protect him. We got to do a better job protecting our quarterback and putting him in situations to have a higher percentage for success. And so you know, a lot of self reflection, we’re gonna have to do a deep dive into exactly where the shortcomings happen. 

“We got to get this thing figured out and we’re going to turn it around because we know USC is coming next weekend so we don’t have a lot of time to feel sorry for ourselves. We’d better get back to work and start preparing for this next upcoming game.”

Freeman is right, there’s no time to feel sorry with a top tier team coming to South Bend. In a game that could’ve boosted Notre Dame’s playoff chances now serves as a game the Irish might need to play in the New Year’s Six.

USC’s defense is nothing to write home about, but boy the Trojans can score. If Notre Dame is to keep up, Hartman needs to play a clean game.

Whatever Freeman has to do in practice, it has to be done. In fact, Freeman might need to look at the run game. Audric Estime couldn’t get going with 10 carries for 20 yards. Jeremiyah Love led the way with just 37 yards on five carries.

Freeman and Notre Dame get USC next in a pressure packed affair.