Everything Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman said after a 31-23 loss to Clemson

The No. 15 Notre Dame Football team (7-3) fell 31-23 to Clemson (4-4) on Saturday. Fighting Irish coach Marcus Freeman spoke to reporters for about seven minutes postgame. Here is everything he said.

Opening Statement: 

“Obviously, disappointing outcome. As I told the team in the locker room, ‘That’s a really good team.’ And we knew that all week. They had four losses, but as you watch the film, it’s a good football team. It’s a Clemson football team — the record doesn’t reflect how good of a team that is. 

“But when you play a good team like that, there are three or four plays in that game that if you turn the ball over, you muff a punt and turn the ball over to their offense, they end up creating an outcome that’s an 8-point loss. So, that’s the reality of it. 

“Two good teams. There are plays in the game that we didn’t finish the way we needed to — finish those plays that were on the outcome. We got to be better on third down, I think, on both sides of the ball. First half defensively, but on offense, we got to be better on third down. Again, we got to get some things fixed.”

On if he thought the offense could grind the game out like the Ohio State game since Clemson had defenders injured: 

“There were some schematic things we could do to create some success on the ground. We didn’t want to approach this thing and say, ‘We’re just going to run the ball and huddle and keep the ball away from them.’ We wanted to be able to throw some balls and throw some shots. They did a good job of defending the throws that we obviously put up. 

“And then, the pick-six kind of spooks you? It spooks you. It spooks the quarterback a little bit and makes you say, ‘Okay, let’s go back to the run game a little bit.’ It was a Clemson approach. It’s not an Ohio State approach.”

On how Clemson RB Phil Mafah achieved success: 

“(Phil Mafah) ran the ball extremely hard. We did not do a good job of tackling him on first contact. That’s something that surprised me. I thought our defense on first contact would be able to make those tackles. But he did a good job of breaking some tackles and running the ball extremely hard.”

On what the Clemson did to keep the Notre Dame offense in their own territory in the second half:

“Yeah, they got a good defense. It’s a top-10 defense that’s extremely talented. They’re getting pressure on the quarterback. They’re covering well. They stopped the run when we were trying to commit to the run game. They made adjustments. It’s a good defense. 

“I wish I could say it’s just one or two things. But on third down, we weren’t able to convert. I think a lot has to do with the pressure they were getting, but also, we weren’t able to get open. We got to continue to improve on our throws. We got to put the ball exactly where we’re supposed to be. There’s a whole bunch of people that are included with not having success that we were looking for in the second half.”

On how he helps Notre Dame reach their full potential:

“As I challenged the team, each individual has to look at themselves and say, ‘Okay, why am I in this position I’m in and what do I have to do to find a way to improve?’ That’s the message that every individual, every coach and every player in that locker room has to own where we’re at and what we got to do to improve. So that’s schematically, that’s as an individual, and then we got to go back to work. 

“There’s no magic formula to improve, right? There’s no magic formula. It’s hard work. And that’s the only thing we know how to do, but it starts with owning where you’re at and finding a better way to do what we do.”

On how he needs Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman to be better: 

“I got to look. I got to watch the film. Obviously, we can’t throw a pick-six, right? You can’t do that. I know he knows that. Now, he did some really, really good things, extending plays with his legs and running for first downs and touchdowns. 

“The biggest thing we can’t do is turn the ball over. We know we have to take care of the football. One of our things going into this game was we had to beat them in a turnover margin, and we didn’t do that today.” 

On how backup center Andrew Kristofic got injured and how third-string center Ashton Craig performed:

“Yeah, I think it was an ankle. I just know he was out. Ashton (Craig) did a great job filling in, the third center. I haven’t watched the film, I don’t know what the result of some of the pressure was, but for having to come in and to be the third center, I’m happy and pleased with him being able to do that.”

On how they bounce back with the next game being in 14 days: 

“We just got to go back to work. We have to own where we’re at. As I just said, ‘Own it. We’re 7 and 3 right now. We got two opportunities to go out there and compete.’ So, we got to improve in these next two weeks. 

“We got to find a way to improve as a football team, schematically and as individuals. We just have to go back to practice, go back to work and figure out a way to make sure that we improve as a team so we can obviously get the outcome that we want.”

On the current state of the Notre Dame football team:

“We haven’t reached our full potential. Today’s outcome is disappointing, but as I told them, ‘We got to figure out why. What happened on those three or four plays? If you look at two plays, a pick six and then the muffed punt, that’s 10 points, right? You don’t ever want to point your finger at just one or two individuals or certain plays. But that’s the difference in winning and losing this game. 

“You’re talking about two plays that resulted in 10 points for them. We can’t do those things. I still believe in cause and effect. It’s not luck. We didn’t just muff the point because we’re unlucky. And we didn’t throw a pick-six because we’re unlucky. We got to figure out why that happened. And how do we fix it.”