Marcus Freeman previews matchup against high-powered UNC offense

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman knows the Irish defense will have on of its biggest challenges this season — easily the most difficult since the opener against Ohio State and perhaps until the closer against USC — when it faces North Carolina this weekend in Chapel Hill. UNC boast the fourth-ranked scoring offense in the FBS, amassing 51.3 points per game.

Spearheading that attack is quarterback Drake Maye, a redshirt freshman who has torched defenses this season. Maye is sixth in the country in completion percentage (74.2%), 11th in passing yards per game (310) and first in passing touchdowns (11) — tied with Tulsa’s Davis Brin and Ohio State’s CJ Stroud. Freeman was the defensive coordinator when UNC racked up 564 yards and 34 points in a loss in South Bend in 2021, and he knows what that offense is capable of.

“It’s a very talented offense,” Freeman said. “And they have a veteran offensive line group with a couple guys that transferred. The quarterback is playing really, really good football right now. I know he’s a young guy but he is playing as good as any quarterback in the country. And we expect [Josh] Downs to be back from injury, so we got our work cut out for us. They’re going to try and take advantage of what you give them, defensively. That’s what they’re able to do. And they’re going to go at different tempos and make you get lined up fast and that was something last year we weren’t able to do. So we have to be prepared and have to make sure we have a good plan to try to limit what they do offensively.”

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Downs has only played one game for the Tar Heels this year, the opener against Florida A&M. In that game, the wideout had nine catches for 78 yards and two scores. He caught 101 passes for 1335 passes and eight touchdowns in 2021, and is one of the more dangerous offensive weapons in college football.

Freeman knows this all too well. Downs cooked the Irish for 10 catches to the tune of 142 yards last year.

“I don’t know if you can completely shut down Josh Downs,” Freeman said. “He’s a really good football player. I don’t love hearing a stat line of 10-plus catches, 100-something yards — it’s too much as a defensive, as a former defensive coordinator it’s still a lot. I don’t care how many touchdowns you had because you’re putting your offense in position to score to touchdowns if you’re doing that. So we can’t do a ‘Let Josh Downs get his.’ We gotta find ways to try to limit his catches and what he does after the catch. That’s probably the most dangerous Josh Downs is. You get the ball in his hands and he makes people and he take a three-yard gain and makes it a 20-yard gain, and so it’s going to be a huge challenge for us and how we’re going to defend that, who we’re going to put over him, what coverages we’ll play on him.”