Live updates: Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman Oct. 24 press conference

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman is back at the podium Monday morning coming off the Fighting Irish’s 44-21 win over UNLV. The victory moved Freeman’s overall head coaching record to 4-4 and the Irish’s 2022 season record to 4-3.

This weekend’s matchup won’t be as easy.

Notre Dame heads northeast to visit No. 16 Syracuse (6-1) at the JMA Dome on Saturday at 12 p.m. ET (ABC). Freeman holds his weekly press conference Monday at 12 p.m. ET. Follow along below with live updates of everything he has to say about the win over UNLV and the upcoming game against the Orange.

Marcus Freeman press conference live updates: Oct. 24

• Freeman: “Happy Monday. It’s obviously a better feeling being up here after a win.”

• Freeman: “There are obviously so many things we could be doing better.” He said the key was starting fast against UNLV, though, and the Irish did that.

• Players of the game vs. UNLV: Logan Diggs and Isaiah Foskey (defense and special teams)

• Freeman was a few minutes late for his press conference today. He said he was rewatching Syracuse vs. Clemson.

• Freeman says he sees explosive offenses in the ACC. But he also sees really good defenses. “I see extremely good quarterback play… There are some really good quarterbacks in this conference. It’s good football, and it’s well-coached.”

• Freeman says Syracuse running back Sean Tucker is a home-run threat, but he’s still physical.

• Freeman on Syracuse QB Garrett Shrader: “He understands football. He’s not just a one-system guy.” Shrader has had four different offensive coordinators in his four years in college.

• Freeman on red zone defense: “We got to make sure we’re doing exactly what we want to do. If they bet us doing what we want to do, then hats off to them.”

• Freeman says Logan Diggs said, “Listen, I’m hurting, but we got to put the work in,” at practice yesterday. Freeman says it speaks to the maturity of the Notre Dame running back room.

• Freeman: “No one has lost faith in Audric Estime.” Estime has lost three fumbles in the last four games.

• Freeman says Brandon Joseph got nicked up. That’s why he didn’t play as much as usual.

• Jack Kiser had a deep thigh bruise. He only played five snaps vs. UNLV.

• Freeman says Notre Dame freshman quarterback Steve Angeli has a different package if he were to come into a game. “We’re not going to ask him to do everything Drew Pyne does.”

• Freeman says Angeli joked that he wanted to do a little more than just hand the ball off when he was in vs. UNLV. “He’s a confident kid. That’s important. You have to have confidence when you take the field.”

• Freeman says the way the Notre Dame offense plays is tailored toward its strengths; junior tight end Michael Mayer and the three-headed running back monster.

• Freeman: “We got a lot of room to grow in that wideouts room… It’s still a young room and a room that has to improve.”

• Former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel was in South Bend last week. It was in the works for a few months. “It just so happened it was a week when I needed someone to talk to.” Tressel spent an hour with Freeman and James Laurinaitis on his way to Chicago.

• Freeman says he has already heightened the importance of playing at noon to his players this week. It’s the first 12 p.m. kick of the year for Notre Dame.

• Freeman says even though Pyne struggled against UNLV, he didn’t let “one bad play turn into two or three.”

• Freeman says he counts the jet sweeps to Braden Lenzy as running plays even though the stat sheet says otherwise. On that note, he was pleased with how well they worked in stretching the defense horizontally. “The ability to keep a defense honest is something we have to do.”

• Freeman says last week’s sense of urgency has to be enhanced this week vs. Syracuse.

• Freeman to the team: “You’ve earned the right to feel good about a win. You did that.” Now he said it’s about enhancing that and building on it.

• Freeman says Benjamin Morrison got the wind knocked out of him vs. UNLV. “He’s a tough kid. He bounced back and played well.”

• Freeman says Prince Kollie had a lower-leg injury suffered on the blocked punt. He practiced yesterday.

• Freeman says the Notre Dame offensive line backups who haven’t been involved on Saturdays have been hitting the weight room extra hard. They also get some good looks in practice. “Right now the consistency that that first group has, we don’t need to roll them. They’re playing well. They’re healthy.”

• Freeman on the toughness of the schedule in the final month of the season. “If we don’t play well and execute, we’re not going to win… We’ll see the next two weeks what kind of team we have.”

• Freeman says it’s a constant teaching point with JD Bertrand to try to get him to tackle with his face up. “It’s so much easier said than done.”

• Freeman on Pyne getting hit last week: “You never want to see your quarterback get hit like that.” Freeman says he was not surprised to see Pyne trying to go the extra yard for a touchdown, though. That’s who he is. “He’s a smaller guy who cannot take many of those blows even though he thinks he can.”

• Freeman on Avery Davis and Bo Bauer being active with the team despite season-ending injuries: “Everybody has to have value.”

• Freeman says nobody has ever questioned Pyne’s “want to.”

Notre Dame vs. UNLV recap links

Game story: Irish score an important, adequate, 44-21 rebound win over UNLV (Todd Burlage, Blue & Gold)

Game balls: Five standouts for Irish football in win over UNLV (Todd Burlage, Blue & Gold)

Report card: Grading Irishfootball in Irish win over UNLV (Tyler Horka, Blue & Gold)

Five thoughts: Irish lean on run game but leaves points on table in win over UNLV (Patrick Engel, Blue & Gold)

How it happened: A detailed look at Irish football win over UNLV (Tyler Horka, Blue & Gold)

How RB Logan Diggs found the hot hand for Irish vs. UNLV (Tyler Horka, Blue & Gold)

How Notre Dame’s three-score win over UNLV still left a desire for more (Patrick Engel, Blue & Gold)

Game time, TV info set for Notre Dame football vs. Syracuse (Tyler Horka, Blue & Gold)

By the numbers: defining stats and figures from Notre Dame’s win over UNLV (Steve Downey, Blue & Gold)

Breaking don PFF grades for Notre Dame football in win over UNLV (Tyler Horka, Blue & Gold)

Where Irish football opponents are ranked in Coaches Poll, AP Top 25 (Tyler Horka, Blue & Gold)

What they’re saying about the Irish’s 44-21 victory over UNLV (Mike Singer, Blue & Gold)

Irish open as slim favorite over No. 16 Syracuse (Patrick Engel, Blue & Gold)

Notre Dame vs. UNLV snap counts, participation chart (Patrick Engel, Blue & Gold)