Live updates: Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman Nov. 7 press conference

There should be a happy Marcus Freeman at the press conference podium Monday. His Notre Dame Fighting Irish just beat then-No. 4 Clemson and has two unranked opponents on the schedule.

No game is easy for these Irish in 2022. That was learned in losses to Marshall and Stanford, two underdogs of more than two touchdowns. But the Irish are coming off of what might have been their best all-around performance of the season and are hitting the stretch run with a head of steam.

Follow along below with Freeman’s Monday press conference wrapping up the win over Clemson and previewing this weekend’s matchup against Navy in Baltimore at 12 p.m. ET. Click the video player to watch live or refresh for updates below that.

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Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman Nov. 7 press conference live updates

• Freeman starts his Monday press conference by giving the Irish women’s and men’s basketball teams in their season openers this week. “There is a lot of excitement around Notre Dame athletics. I wish those two teams the best of luck.”

• Freeman says Notre Dame played its most physical game of the year in all three phases vs. Clemson.

• Freeman says there is an immense sense of trust in what this program is trying to be.

• Freeman says Notre Dame has to understand that victories are short-lived while losses can linger. It’s right back to the grindstone for the Irish this week.

• Freeman says he went right back to the office late Saturday night after Notre Dame beat Clemson. He told his wife, “Put the kids to bed. I got film to watch.”

• Freeman says Al Golden has experience facing the triple-option offense. He went against it when he was the head coach at Temple. Navy, of course, uses the triple-option.

• Freeman says again that seasons “are never going to be as smooth as you expect it to be.” He says that’s even true of national championship teams.

• Freeman: “It wasn’t good enough against Marshall. It wasn’t good enough against Ohio State. Are do we find a better way to do it? I never lost belief in that.”

• Freeman: “Where I was against Oklahoma State and Ohio State as a head football coach is different from where I am now. And I hope I’m different two games from now.” Freeman is adamant about evolving and improving every single day.

• Freeman: “It’s an emotional game, but you can’t lose control. Same goes for coaches.” This was in response to a question about his heightened emotional responses during games lately. “What is needed in those moments? Sometimes you have to get on people’s behinds. Sometimes you have to tell them you believe in them.”

• Freeman says Notre Dame had some practices in which the scout team ran the triple-option against the varsity defense a little during camp and then again during the bye week. So it won’t be completely new during practices this week and then on game day.

• Freeman says Notre Dame offensive coordinator Tommy Rees does a great job weekly of scheming up situational looks. “Each week you have to find a new wrinkle.”

• Freeman says he’s challenging the Irish offense to be simplistic while also creating confusion for opposing defenses.

• Freeman praises the Notre Dame running backs for hitting holes that aren’t there but are created in a split-second right when they get to the rushing lane. “That’s trust in what we’re doing.”

• Freeman: “Great tacklers are confident. Great tacklers are aggressive.” He says those things are true of freshman corner Benjamin Morrison.

• Freeman says Jack Kiser‘s seven snaps vs. Clemson were not injury related. Freeman liked what Marist Liufau and JD Bertrand were doing in two-linebacker looks.

• Freeman says Brandon Joseph is questionable with an ankle sprain. Freeman says it’s a “good” sprain.

• Players of the game vs. Clemson from Freeman: Drew Pyne, Morrison, Jordan Botelho, Prince Kollie.

• Freeman says the physicality of the team stems from the way the Irish practice. “There is a belief in me as the head coach that this is going to be our staple.”

• Freeman says the Notre Dame defense has been good at limiting big plays of late.

• Freeman: “If you would have asked me before the game if we could rush the ball for 263 yards against that defensive front? Probably not. Could we run? Yes. But 263 yards is a lot.”

• Freeman says he takes some of the blame for Clemson scoring touchdowns on its last two drives. He altered the scheme so that the Irish would not give up “the big play.”

• Freeman on the what beating Clemson meant for Notre Dame recruiting: “It was electric. You couldn’t ask for a better environment for those recruits that were here. … This is just the start of something special.”

• Freeman: “The feeling you get when you’re victorious, I don’t care who the opponent is, there is nothing like it.”

• Freeman says he didn’t know Notre Dame was going to use big boards to hide defensive signals until right before the game. He was on board with it, though. He says sign stealing in college football is real.

• Freeman says DJ Brown is playing his “highest level of football right now.”

• Freeman says the dichotomy between the interaction between Rees and Pyne in the Cal game (do your bleeping job) and the embrace they had after the Clemson game are examples of a “real” relationship, and that’s what he wants all the Notre Dame coaches to have with the players.