Marcus Freeman transcript: Coach reveals what country learned about Notre Dame in Orange Bowl

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Following No. 7-seed Notre Dame football’s (14-1) 27-24 victory over No. 6-seed Penn State (13-3) in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Orange Bowl, Fighting Irish coach Marcus Freman addressed the media. Here’s everything Freeman said in his postgame news conference.

Opening statement

”So proud of this group. What a gritty performance. They found a way when it matters the most to get their job done. Penn State was a heck of a football team. I had a lot of respect for them coming into the game, but have more after the game. It’s a really good team, well-coached, and it was a tough match-up. But these guys are resilient, and they found a way to make a play when it mattered the most.

“That’s what, again, to me is what great teams, great organizations, are able to do at that moment that they need to do their job or make a play, they do it. The last play doesn’t matter. There’s unpredictable things that happen all the time, and they find a way to make it work.

“I’m really proud of them, excited for this next opportunity. We’ll enjoy this thing today and tomorrow before we figure out who our opponent is, and then we’ve got to get healthy and get back to work for one last guaranteed (game).” 

On the Notre Dame offensive line’s performance in the second half

”We’ve got a lot of confidence in the offensive line room. When (freshman left tackle Antonie) Knapp goes down, (graduate student) Tosh Baker has to go in. When (senior right guard) Rocco (Spindler) goes down, Charles Jagusah has to go in. We’ve got a lot of confidence in them. I think the situation right before half, you’ve got a new quarterback in there, is it a two-minute situation, they’re trying to rush upfield, and they made some plays.

“As I told the offensive staff and the team in the locker room, we have to be able to run the ball, and we’ve got to stop the run. That’s not changing. We said that going into the game, and we were saying that at halftime.

“We had to make some adjustments, which we did. And we had to try to calm some things down. The running attack — the rushing attack truly helped us open some things in the passing game in that second half. You know what? (Senior quarterback) Riley (Leonard) just executed. The wide-outs executed. The O-line did their job, tight ends played well and you find a way to win it in a game-winning field goal.

“It was going to be a battle. We didn’t have great production in the first half, and it was a seven-point game. I told them, ‘We get the ball the first series of the second half, and we’ve just to go out and execute on this play.’ But I want them to understand we did not play to our standard in the first half. And credit to Penn State for what they did on both sides of the ball.

“It was a seven-point game. It did not feel like that going into the locker room, but it was a seven-point game. Our guys went out there and performed in the second half.” 

On where this birthday ranks for him

”Thirteen years ago, I had a daughter born on the same day as me. For the past 13 years, she gets all the birthday credit. But this is special. Again, this is a special moment that a lot of hard work has been put into it. It’s not about a birthday. This is just about a moment and enjoying this moment together.”

On managing the final drive as they needed to be aggressive but also cautious not to give Penn State the ball back

”We had great communication in terms of what we were going to do. I wanted to see, ‘Are they going to call a time-out?’ If they’re not going to call a time-out, then I had to have a plan, ‘Hey, when do we want to use our time-outs?’

“Once we figured out what they were going to do, we said we want to center this ball on 3rd down, center the ball on 3rd down, and on 3rd down — I’m sorry, center the ball on 2nd; on 3rd down is when we decided to do a QB sneak because they called a time-out.

“They executed flawlessly. Nobody panicked. It was great communication. Riley kept everybody under control, and we knew we were in range where (graduate kicker) Mitch (Jeter) could make that field goal. He is a confident guy, man. There is no moment too big for Mitch Jeter. I had a lot of confidence in him in that moment that he was going to do exactly what he did. And he did a great job at doing that.” 

On the plan for the final drive

”I don’t know exactly where the ball was — at the plus 42. We wanted to get the ball as close to the 30-yard line as we could. Listen, if we could have went down and scored, we would have. But we get at this moment, let’s get the ball at least to the 30, and if we’re not going to score a touchdown, let’s run as much time off the clock as we can.

“But we didn’t want to leave us with zero time, so we had to be smart with how we utilized those three time-outs, and we did a good job.” 

On Notre Dame sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love

”He was banged up, and he is a tough individual. He didn’t get a lot of practice reps. We were very calculated on what we asked him to do in practice. There was maybe a little doubt on my end, but the closer we got to the game, I said, ‘Okay, he’s going to give it a go.’ The statistics maybe weren’t there in the first half, but him being out there means something to everybody on that offense and everybody on our team. In the second half, he made some Jeremiyah Love plays.

“It speaks volumes to the heart he has. He gave everything he had to this place. He did not have to play today. Nobody would have batted an eye. But he put team in front of himself and how he felt, and we’ve got a whole bunch of guys like that in that locker room, and that’s why we’re in this position.” 

On the defense

”Keep it simple. You know, as a defensive mindset, when you have a lot of confidence in your corners to be able to play man-to-man coverage, it allows you to do a lot of different things with those nine other people. But we can’t always just play man (coverage), too, because that’s how some of those big plays happen. You can scheme us up.

“But just those guys — one of my favorite plays (sophomore cornerback) Christian (Gray) made today wasn’t a play on the pass; it was when his guy cracked blocking the field and made a huge tackle. I think that was on third down. He put all 175 pounds into that tackle, man. But you know what? That hurts. That hurts. He’s made to play man coverage, but I don’t know how much he signed up to throw his body in there against a 200-pound running back that runs physically.

“That is the way we choose to play this game. That’s what I told them in the locker room. That’s what I told them before this game. ‘We choose to play this game in a physical, very physical manner.’ You know what? You’re going to have to play through some pain, but that moment in that locker room when we’re singing that fight song and we’re celebrating together, it numbs the pain.

“I’m just proud of them. Proud of them and grateful that we have these guys in our locker room.” 

On Notre Dame being resilient

”I often tell them, ‘In your lowest moments you find out the most about yourself.’ We’ve had low moments, but we had a really low moment in Week 2, and these guys battled. We have great leaders. We’ve got great players that chose to put this university and this football program in front of themselves. That, to me, is probably the single most — the single thing that I’m probably most proud of is how we have a group of individuals that truly put Notre Dame football in front of themselves.

“I know Riley and Christian truly would rather be in that locker room celebrating than being up here, but that’s what it takes. It takes 120 guys saying, ‘You know what, who cares how many plays I get? Who cares what type of individual praise I get?’ It’s all for Notre Dame and to make sure we achieve team glory and we have a locker room full of guys made up of that, and that to me is a reflection of what you saw today, guys that did whatever it took to make sure we achieved the outcome we want.”

On what a win like this can do for the program in recruiting

”Winning helps everything. There’s a lot of coaches that are on the road right now recruiting, and fortunately for us, the best recruiting we can do is winning. But also, hopefully, the culture that is built here attracts recruits. This is a place — we know South Florida is a hotbed. South Florida has a lot of great football players. Hopefully we find the right ones that choose Notre Dame.”

On the final kick by Notre Dame graduate student kicker Mitch Jeter

”I was more concerned with the protection than I am with Mitch Jeter. Our field goal protection has been a big point of emphasis the last few weeks, and that was what I kept thinking about. When we had that time-out, I was reminding them of the fundamentals to execute the protection of protecting the field goal.

“I leave Mitch alone. When he’s in his lane, let him do what he does. But I had to make sure those big guys didn’t get lost in the moment. It was about execution in that moment, and they did a great job in protection.” 

On Notre Dame sophomore cornerback Christian Gray

”Special, I mean, all these guys are special, man. He won’t take credit for it, but in the biggest moments, both of these two and many guys in that locker room find ways to make plays when it matters the most.

“We’re playing USC here a couple of weeks ago, and they’re going in to try to make this a one-score game. He had some plays earlier that didn’t go his way, but on that play versus USC, when they went at him, he picked the ball off and ran it back for a touchdown. That’s what Christian Gray does. He makes plays when it matters the most. I think he got a DPI or a holding or something like that, but in that moment, Christian had to make a play, and he did, and was a huge reason why we won that game.” 

On the opportunity to play for a national title

”I think any competitor wants to be a part of a place that the expectations are to win championships. We all had a decision to make when we chose Notre Dame as the place we want to either coach or play at. But there’s more to this place than that, too.

“We know every year we compete. The expectation is to win championships. But there’s more to this university and what it provides for young people. It’s a special place that young people get to grow in their faith, they get to grow in community, they get to make connections that are going to help them for the rest of their lives.

“Every football season, this is the expectation. Although we haven’t achieved it. But there’s also a lot of things that this university does for these young people that will carry them throughout the rest of their lives.” 

On the trust levels in Notre Dame junior QB Steve Angeli and other key reserves

”It’s earned. We’ve got a lot of confidence in Steve and all those other guys that had to step up when their numbers are called. They earn that confidence in practice. Steve has earned it in some game opportunities coaching, but you earn it from your teammates and coaches in practice.

“And so if you’re thrust into this opportunity out in a game where everybody else can see you, that’s when they get to learn about you. But we had a lot of confidence in Steve and what he can do. We weren’t just going to put him in there to hand the ball off. We were going to go to try to score, and we ended up scoring three points.” 

On what the country is learning about the Notre Dame football program

”I hope people that see this football team that aren’t with us every day sees a bunch of individuals that put team in front of themselves. That’s a lesson that is going to help you achieve great things in football but great things in life. You have to be selfless to achieve anything great. We’ve got a locker room full of selfless players and selfless coaches.

“The time you’re tested the most is when you’re at your lowest point. We lose to Northern Illinois, and you’ve got a decision, ‘Do I want to be selfless, or am I going to put individual glory ahead of myself?’ I hope the nation sees no matter what the situation was, this team continues to put Notre Dame in front of myself.” 

On Notre Dame having an extra day off over Texas and Ohio State

”You know what? The greatest thing is there is one day guaranteed you don’t have to stress. We don’t know who we’re going to play. So let’s enjoy the night, and let’s enjoy tomorrow. Hopefully we can watch the game or try to as a fan. I don’t know if we will.

“But the minute we find out who wins that game, you go into competition mode. You’re starting to prepare, coaches and players. But the best thing is yeah, we have one day extra physically to get healthy, but the mental strain that it has on you preparing for an opponent, it’s tough. I hope these guys, for one day, can enjoy this moment, enjoy not having an opponent. We’ll have a happy flight home, and then on Saturday, we’ve got to get to work.”

BOX SCORE: NOTRE DAME 27, PENN STATE 24