Quick hitters: What Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said about playing 8 weeks without a bye

Fighting Irish football coach Marcus Freeman addressed the media in his weekly Monday news conference. He put the finishing touches on No. 21 Notre Dame’s (5-2) 33-20 loss to No. 14 Louisville while previewing this Saturday’s matchup against No. 10 USC (6-0). 

Freeman commented on five things to reporters: about the team being tired with no bye week, Caleb Williams, Jaylen Sneed defending Williams, having the confidence to beat USC and last Saturday’s O-line rotation featuring Billy Schrauth. 

On the team being physically/mentally tired going eight weeks without a bye:

“I don’t use that as a reason for a lack of performance. Now, every week, you evaluate how you prepare. That’s something that we’ll continuously do. What do we feel is best to get our guys prepared for this game? As the head coach, I take ownership of saying, ‘They weren’t prepared the way we needed to be prepared to play Louisville.’ 

“As I go back to this week and the preparation, I’ll say, ‘Okay, what do I believe, what do we believe it’s going to take to make sure Saturday night at Notre Dame Stadium we’re ready to go?’ What I don’t want to do is use being tired as an excuse, right? I don’t want our players to use that as an excuse. 

“We’re not tired. You play Saturday night and had all day to rest. You know what? That’s what a part of playing at Notre Dame is about. Man, we were fortunate. We get four primetime games. And that’s how we got to look at it. We get another primetime game versus USC at Notre Dame Stadium.

“If you don’t have the bubbles in your stomach, then dude, you’re not the elite competitor we need you to be, right? When you say, ‘Man, maybe we’re tired. It’s our fourth primetime game versus a ranked opponent’ and all these different things. That leaves room for excuses. That’s something that I won’t let our guys do.”

On Southern California QB Caleb Williams:

“He’s one of those guys that are as good as advertised. There’s a reason why he’s the Heisman Trophy winner. He is very elite with arm talent, decision-making, and ability to extend plays. He is a well-rounded, very talented football player. Our defense will have its work cut out for them for sure.”

On utilizing Notre Dame LB Jaylen Sneed to defend Williams: 

“Jaylen did a good job in third-down defense in passing situations versus Louisville. He brings a burst and explosiveness that we need in those situations. But you know, you can run the ball first and second down, too. And I don’t know if we want Jaylen Sneed playing D-tackle right now (joking). 

“So, again, can he help us in passing situations? Absolutely. We have to understand we have to control our rush this week. You can’t end up behind a quarterback because he’ll extend plays — expose you as he did last year at times. We got to be really disciplined this week.”

On having the confidence to beat USC:

“We don’t worry about beating USC as much as how do we continue to focus on reaching our full potential? That’s the pressure I put on our team, and our program is: what are we doing to make sure we reach our full potential? The result of that will be the result of that. That’s my concern, and that’s my focus: what do we have to do as a program to make sure we’re performing the way we need to on Saturday night? 

“Part of that is game planning for an opponent. It’s a challenge, a truly challenging team to prepare for. We know offensively, they are probably the best or one of the best in the country. And the most challenging you have to prepare for. 

“Defensively, I’ve heard, ‘Hey, maybe their defense isn’t as good.’ Their defense is talented. And all you have to do is watch the film and see how they play. They have an extremely good football program. They’re 6-0, and it’s a tough challenge for us. But we’ll be ready.”

On where Notre Dame is at with Billy Schrauth and reestablishing continuity with the offensive line:

“Yeah, I think, again, we had a plan for two reasons last week to roll guys. Coogs (Pat Coogan) had a knee injury that he really didn’t practice Tuesday. He practiced Wednesday and Thursday but didn’t do everything we needed on Tuesday. 

“So we had a plan to kind of roll Billy (Schrauth) in there and wanted to get (Andrew) Kristofic a couple plays at center. It was really to create competition but also, again, to see how Zeke and those guys would respond. They responded well. Billy played well when he was in there, and I thought the guards played well. So, we all have to continue to improve.”