Everything Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said after the Florida State game

On Saturday, the No. 10 Notre Dame football program cruised to a 52-3 win against Florida State. Afterward, Fighting Irish coach Marcus Freeman spoke to the media for about eight minutes. Here is everything he said.

Opening statement:

“Man, proud of those guys. Proud of the way they prepared. As you watch film, you know you’re going against a talented group, but it could have been easy to overlook those guys in terms of preparation because of the record. 

“But we’ve got a mature group. We’ve got a bunch of seniors that are continuing to lead this group in the right way, and I truly believe in my heart, Saturday is a reflection of preparation, and they are preparing the right way. They have the right mentality, and they are really going out and playing well. 

“I was really proud of the way they played in the second half, being up 21-3, and to come out and defensively, I think the interception, turnover on downs, three-and-out, three-and-out, interception, touchdown. 

“Offensively, it was touchdown, field goal, touchdown, touchdown. You know, and that’s a pretty dominant half of football, and so I’m really proud of the way they performed. 

“We know we’ve got one more opportunity, guaranteed opportunity in this stadium. So we’ll celebrate tonight and get back tomorrow and start preparing for Virginia.”

On if they saw in film that they could exploit the Florida State offensive line:

“I don’t think we did anything out of the ordinary. I think our guys are playing with clarity. You know, some of the rush lanes, some of the different stunts we’re doing, they are playing with clarity, which equals velocity.

“That’s what we talk about all the time: clarity equals velocity. And when guys are really understanding what to expect, which way the slide is coming, ‘Hey, how do I want to attack this guy in protection?’ You see some good things happen.

“But two great teams and great coaches, you’re not going to just out-scheme them. We’ve got to make sure we give our guys a chance to play fast, and that’s what you saw today. “

On capitalizing on scoring situations:

“Yeah, I think you say it all the time as a coach, but your players have got to believe it; that you can’t look at the score. 

“You know, it’s a privilege to play for this place, and I told them, ‘Go out in the second half and play like that. Play like it’s a privilege to play for this university, to play for this football program. And if you do that, you’ll play the way we played in the second half.’

“So probably didn’t say — probably should say, our crowd was real special. It’s a little different, night game in Notre Dame Stadium, no matter who the opponent, no matter what the record was. It was electric out there tonight. Special shout-out to our crowd, too.”

On the influence graduate student DL Rylie Mills and junior Donovan Hinish made on the Notre Dame defense:

“We said you have to be strong up the middle, and it starts up front with those two seniors, those guys that are veterans. They are playing really well. Rylie got some individual glory today. He got the sacks, but there’s a lot of people that contributed to Rylie having the sacks. You talk about coverage, and you talk about some other guys up front. 

“Individual glory is a part of it, man. When you play well and some things go your way, you’re going to get recognized, but responsibility has been playing at a high level. (Graduate student defensive lineman) Howard (Cross III) has been playing at a high level. It’s good to see him get some of that production today.”

On what he takes away from the Notre Dame passing game:

“After the game, you enjoy it, right?  You enjoy that feeling you have in the locker room because it’s hard to achieve. I’ve been on the other side when you don’t achieve it. So after the game, you enjoy it. We will go back and dissect every single play. We don’t talk about the result of the game. It’s every single play, what do we have to do to improve. 

“You’ve got to enjoy this feeling tonight, but you’ve got to go back tomorrow with a clear mind and a conscience of trying to improve. You’ve got to try to improve, and you can’t let the feeling of winning a game like this cloud your vision when you really dissect the film. 

“So we’ll dive into it, we’ll find ways to improve, and we’ll attack it in practice.”

On whether he has an update on Cross’ injury:

“No. Said it was an ankle sprain. I don’t know if he could have came back. Didn’t even tell me that. Just said he’s out right now with an ankle sprain. I think by the time there was a possibility maybe he could have came back, it was over.”

On the mentality at halftime and how the execution improved after some first-half miscues:

“The sign of a great team is consistency. We all can have good plays and bad plays, and good days and bad days, and good games and bad games. But the sign of great teams and great organizations is consistency. 

“I challenged them a little bit at halftime, ‘Let’s be consistent. That’s who you really are, right? It’s not what you do on one day versus what you — who you are is who you are consistently, and that’s in all walks of life.’

“So that’s what I challenged them with at halftime, and they went out, and they were pretty consistent in the second half.”

On how Notre Dame’s maturity gives him peace of mind because they are preparing the way he wants:

“I think it starts with the captains. I meet with the captains once a week, sometimes twice a week, and this week we met on Monday, and they said, ‘Hey, Coach, we want to say something to the team about how important this final four stretch is — but this one, right?’  Yeah, we know we have four, but this one. 

“It’s one thing as the head coach when you say that, but when your captains are the ones driving that message, that’s a sign of maturity of your team, and that’s what I’m really proud of.”

On whether the maturity gives them the ability to reach higher physically on the practice field because of their approach:

“Yeah, I think it’s an understanding that you don’t get better doing the same thing you have previously done. That’s what I drive home to our players but also to our captains. We can’t go out and just reciprocate next week on what we did this week, right? Our national gravitational pull is going to make you worse. 

“So they put a whole bunch of work in this week, and the first thing I’m going to say to them in the meeting on Monday is we have got to elevate. Sometimes that’s frustrating. That’s frustrating to me as a coach when you feel like you’ve put everything into it, and you know in order to get better, you’ve got to do more. 

“And so that’s the challenge. That’s what they want because they want to be great and they want reach their full potential, and it’s my job to push them to do that.”

BOX SCORE: No. 10 NOTRE DAME 52, FLORIDA STATE 3