Quick-hitters: Marcus Freeman on Notre Dame Stadium atmosphere, triple option planning, Drew Pyne

Marcus Freeman’s walk into the Notre Dame Stadium media room Monday afternoon was a little more subdued than his same stroll Saturday night. The Irish head coach made the trek amid chants of his name and a soundtrack of raucousness after his team beat No. 4 Clemson 35-14. Monday, he walked in to a quiet stadium. New week. New opponent.

Freeman met with reporters Monday for the first of two press conferences before Notre Dame plays Navy. Here are some topics he discussed.

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On what he saw in the win over Clemson

“I love the physicality of our team. We really played our most physical game in all three phases on Saturday night. To see the effort they played with, the physicality we played with, was really good to see. It’s important. It’s part of our culture. It’s part of the things that will make us successful.”

On the Notre Dame Stadium atmosphere

“The atmosphere was unreal. We create the advantage here. Our fans will always support us, but we make it a home-field advantage by the way we play. They did a really good job. The fans were unreal. The students were great. This is a special place. I think everyone saw that on Saturday.”

On what Saturday means for the recruits who were on visits

“It was electric. You couldn’t ask for a better environment, better ending and crowd rushing the field for those recruits that were here. I remind our staff recruiting is so important – the relationships we develop, the ability to sell this university and football program – but the most important thing is what happened on Saturday. The ability to win.

“Those kids were able to see themselves as a part of that. ‘That’s you’re future’ is what we tell them. You can be part of this, and this is the start of something special. When you come here, this can be what you expect and play in these big games.”

More Notre Dame football:

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On the meaning of being ranked again in both polls

“It builds confidence. It’s a trust and belief in what we’re doing. What losing does is it maybe creates a disbelief in what you’re doing at times. Is this the right way to do it? But you have success, you’re ranked now, you beat a great Clemson team in the manner we did, it continues to reaffirm what we’re doing and the belief they have in each other.”

On Notre Dame using big signal boards to help protect against sign stealing

“I didn’t know we were going to have those big boards until I saw them on the sideline right before the game. It’s a little bit of gamesmanship acting like we’re trying to prevent people from stealing our signals. If someone wants to steal our signals, they can. We have to find different ways to make sure teams can’t.

“Those big boards aren’t going to be the only way a team can steal signals. The ability to change your signals, it’s gamesmanship. It’s part of the game of football. If you don’t think it’s real, your signals are going to be stolen. That’s a challenge from me to the coaching staff is find a better way to do it. It’s our job to make sure nobody steals our signals no matter who the opponent is.”

On why quarterback Drew Pyne was named player of the game on offense

“I think we had zero pre-snap penalties. It’s not easy to sit back, huddle, look at the play clock and say we’re going to break at this moment or get down there in time to do your motions and shifts. It’s the ability to control the offense. We only had one three-and-out, which was huge. The ability to extend drives – I don’t care if we end up punting – but to control the play clock and game clock was huge.

“He had [106] yards running and throwing the ball, was efficient, two touchdowns. He did a really good job in what he was asked to do.”

On defensive coordinator Al Golden’s prior triple option experience

“There are a lot of good ideas he has had from previously facing triple-option teams. When he was at Temple, they faced Navy. When he was at Miami, they faced Georgia Tech. He has some really good ideas and we watched some film of different things they did defensively to give us a new way to defend the triple option.

“We’ll enhance it, and there are some things we did last year we had some success with. But there are a lot of good enhancements the defense will have because of his expertise in defending the triple option.”

On preparing for the triple option’s cutblocks

“You can only cut at the line of scrimmage now with those interior linemen. We’re not really working on that now at the second and third level like we used to in the past. Every level had to work on cutblocks. No longer do you have to do that. It’s those interior linemen.

“We’ll find ways to simulate cutblocks, I don’t know if it will be live or in scout team reps, but we have to simulate it. We can’t just tell them you’re going to get cut.”

On the biggest improvements in recent weeks

“Defensively, we’re preventing the big plays. We did a good job stopping the run. We’ve done a good job stopping the run all year, but every once in a while, you get those big plays, which ultimately lead to touchdowns.

“Offensively, we’re taking care of the football. Zero turnovers. The ability to hand the ball to the referee is so important. Then executing when – the touchdown pass to [tight end Michael] Mayer, the passes we’re deciding to throw – to execute in those times. It’s not always perfect, but that’s what we have to do and continue to enhance. We have to get better.”