WATCH: Is BYU game make or break for Notre Dame’s 2022 season?
In a weekly YouTube live show, BlueandGold.com’s Tim Hyde and Mike Singer discuss and react to the latest news and notes in the world of Notre Dame football and recruiting.
On the docket for this week’s show is talking about the importance of the BYU vs. Notre Dame matchup in Las Vegas. Is it a true make-or-break contest for the Fighting Irish’s 2022 season? Hyde and Singer discuss that, as well as a couple of recruiting topics.
It is not a show to miss for Fighting Irish fans.
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Notre Dame vs. BYU key storylines: Marcus Freeman’s adaptability, BYU flashback, Shamrock in Sin City
Marcus Freeman openly and refreshingly admits that he learns something new on his new job every day, and that he still has a long way to go to get where he wants to be as the rookie Notre Dame head football coach.
In an ego-driven business where coaches often view themselves as infallible and untouchable, Freeman takes a different outlook.
“You never stop learning. You never stop enhancing,” Freeman said Monday during his press conference to discuss Saturday’s Shamrock Series game against No. 16 BYU (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC). “I don’t care if I’ve been doing this since December or doing it for 10 years. I think the challenge to us as individuals is to find ways to improve.”
Going from 0-2 to 2-2 brought some obvious improvements for the coach and his team. But it’s the messaging shift that Freeman delivered to his players and coaches that demonstrates a willingness to learn and adapt.
“No matter what the result of the past game is, what the result of the last season was, how do you improve?” Freeman added. “That’s the challenge for us as a football program.”
A mission to improve is one thing, finding the best way to make it happen is another.
Following consecutive losses to Ohio State and Marshall in two games Notre Dame led in the fourth quarter, Freeman adopted a rallying cry of “learning how to finish.”
Freeman’s message changed to “starting faster” after a troubling first half in a slim 24-17 victory over Cal in Game 3.
And finally, before North Carolina and through the bye week, Freeman’s theme has evolved again.
