Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman College Football Playoff first round press conference live updates
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman speaks to reporters today at 11:30 a.m. ET to preview the Fighting Irish’s College Football Playoff first-round matchup against the Indiana Hoosiers.
You can watch Freeman’s press conference via the YouTube video player below and/or follow along with Blue & Gold’s real-time, written updates of what Freeman is saying at the bottom of this page.
WATCH: Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman CFP first round press conference
What Freeman is saying
Keep refreshing this page for real-time, written updates of what Freeman is saying.
• Freeman says Notre Dame is treating today as a Monday of game week with the game being on Friday.
• Freeman says Howard Cross III and Jeremiyah Love WILL play on Friday.
• Freeman says Notre Dame has been in “playoff situational games since Week 3.” “Every game we play in is a playoff game in our minds.”
• Freeman says the reason Notre Dame is the only team in the College Football Playoff to not have a team enter the transfer portal since it opened last week is because this group of Irish players understand the opportunity that’s ahead, and they want to be a part of it.
• Freeman says he would be lying if he said he doesn’t think about the loss to Northern Illinois. “Fear is a motivator. It is what it is.”
• Freeman says Riley Leonard is an embodiment of Notre Dame’s program striving to always be better. Leonard said recently he hasn’t had his “breakthrough” moment as a college quarterback. That’s a reflection of him knowing he can be better and wanting to be better.
• Freeman says he has the utmost confidence in Notre Dame’s young defensive backs to stop a pretty good Indiana passing offense.
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• Freeman says the biggest reason Notre Dame is 11-1 with a chance to win a national championship is depth. “We have guys from the top of your roster to the bottom who can help us win football games.”
• Freeman says Xavier Watts’ value to this Notre Dame team is unquantifiable. Watts is a major reason why the Irish are where they are.
• Freeman says Kurtis Rourke plays like the veteran he is. Makes smart decisions. Good leader. Also applauds Indiana’s rushing game. He says it will be a challenge on that side of the ball.
• Freeman says it’s been a total team effort, putting many minds together, to put together a plan in how to work out, practice, prepare, etc. for the 12-team College Football Playoff. Obviously, no coaching staff has ever had to do this. New territory for everyone.
• Freeman says Mitch Jeter “has had a really good few weeks of practice.” He says Notre Dame’s No. 1 kicker, who is 6 of 12 this season on field goal attempts, is just about back to full strength.
• Freeman says Rylie Mills and Mike Brown, who both had “poor decisions in terms of the way they reacted to a situation” at USC, will be the first two to say nobody is worth 15 yards. “These guys own it.”
• Freeman is asked about Bill Belichick arriving in college football at North Carolina. He says he respects what Belichick did in the NFL. “He’ll do great things in college the same way he did in the NFL.”
