Everything Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman said after beating Purdue

On Saturday, the Notre Dame football program responded to last week’s upset loss to NIU with a dominating 66-7 victory over Purdue. Afterward, Irish coach Marcus Freeman spoke to the media for about 10 minutes. Here is everything he said.

Opening statement:

“Obviously, proud of the way our guys played, prepared, the mindset, the mentality — in terms of preparing for a good opponent. Obviously, the ability to run the ball on offense, two takeaways on defense. Defense played lights out. It was good to be a part of.

“I’m most proud of the way they came out of the locker room in the second half—the ability, as we told him last week, to handle success. I think (in) the second half, we outscored them 24-7, which is huge. After being up 42 to nothing (at halftime), to be able to come out, and no matter who’s in the game, to be able to perform the way we performed was really good. 

“So, (I’m) proud of the guys — enjoy this victory. As I told them, ‘It’s hard to win, as we saw last week, it’s hard to win. And so enjoy it, and then get back to work Sunday and Monday and ready for our next opponent.’”

On what he saw pregame and over the last seven days that let him know they would respond mentally and physically:

“I don’t know if it’s something you can see because if I saw it the week before, I would have did something about it. I think it’s a choice that we all have to make as individuals. It’s my job to make sure that we have a culture that doesn’t accept anything less of that. 

“So, I think at the end of the day, it has to be a choice that we all make, no matter who our opponent is, no matter what success or failure we had the previous week, that obviously the performance is a reflection of the preparation and the mindset, physically and mentally. So we had the right one today.”

On if the close in the second half encourages him that his team will choose to prepare physically and mentally:

“Yeah, we have to. I mean, that’s our job. That’s what we got to do. So, there’s no guarantees in life, so we got to make sure we don’t assume anybody’s going to make that choice. We got to make sure that, I have to make sure, as a head coach, I’m continuously preaching that message, and our players got to make that decision.”

On what he saw was different this week than last week:

“Guys, I just said it. It’s not like you can just watch and say, ‘These guys aren’t ready.’ I didn’t think that getting ready for Northern Illinois. I didn’t (not) think our group was ready. I thought we were ready. That’s why I’m saying, ‘I believe it’s a mentality.’ That’s the thing that I took away from last week — is every individual has to handle success, respect their opponent and make sure your mindset’s the right way. 

“You’re going to have mistakes in practice. I’ve said this before, ‘That’s what practice is for.’ So, it wasn’t that we made more mistakes last week than we made this week. It’s the sense of urgency to correct them, the mindset, and ultimately, got to go do it on the game day like we did today.”

On what was different about Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard:

“I haven’t watched it, you know? I mean, he was able to run the ball, and that means people were blocking. He was hitting holes that were open for him. We had some success throwing. I don’t know the stats of throwing the ball, but, I knew that he hit some open receivers that, more than anything, I think we helped him. 

“We got to make sure, as coaches, that we call things that we believe our players can succeed at. That’s what a big learning lesson, I think, from last week to this week, is we got to spend more time together and make sure, ‘Hey, just because you do something right in practice doesn’t mean it’s always going to translate to the game. We got to make sure we’re calling things that our players know in and out. 

“It takes time. It takes time spending time together. The growth of our offense from week two to week three was tremendous. It’s kudos to that offensive staff, (offensive coordinator) Coach (Mike) Denbrock, the guys working together and our players, believing in the game plan that our coaches put together.”

On how he is feeling:

“I’m happy, man. I’m happy we went out and performed the way we did. And so, as I told the players, we have to celebrate and enjoy the victory, and we’ll get back to work tomorrow and make sure we’re handling success the right way.”

On what he could tell was going through the Notre Dame defensive players’ heads as they flew around:

“They take a lot of pride, and our defense takes a lot of pride in how it performs. Wasn’t happy with the performance last week, and they were aggressive and disciplined. I’m pretty sure, I don’t know, I’ll get the grades from the coaches, but we had a less amount of MAs (missed assignments), I’m sure. All those things factor into having success. 

“We had two turnovers. That’s huge. That was a goal of ours going into the game. We have to have two takeaways on defense, protect the ball on offense and win the turnover margin two to nothing is this something that we have to be able to do.”

On what experiences from his time at Purdue helped him prepare for the bounce back on Saturday:

“There’s nothing comparable in my time at Purdue. I mean, I was a linebackers coach here. I really enjoyed living here. Me and my wife were just talking about it. We had a couple kids here. I think we might have made another one, and we had it in Cincinnati. 

“So, I really enjoyed it here. Didn’t have as much success on the football field as we wanted. But I think we did a good job of showing our players what to expect when they come here. They prepared that way, and they went out and executed that way.”

On how important it was for Notre Dame O-linemen Pat Coogan and Rocco Spindler to step up on the offensive line:

“Huge, man. Huge, Tyler. I just told those guys, man, ‘Like, to start as many games as those two started, and to not be the starter and to be prepared and to be great teammates,’ I can’t speak any more highly of those two guys, man. They went in there, and they got the job done. 

“It’s a respect to the preparation. It’s a respect to their unselfishness, to their love for the team. Those two guys deserve a lot of credit for the way they prepare, the way they make the guys in front of them better, and in the way when they got their opportunity, went there and did their job.”

On how rewarding it was to see Leonard have the day he had:

“It’s good, man. Put a lot of work into it. It’s good to see him have success, right? He works his tail off, and our offensive staff works their tail off. Our O-line and our wideouts did a heck of a job — and our tight ends — of blocking.

“Riley’s going to get the (credit) because he’s quarterback, and he had a lot of yards rushing. Riley’s going to get the blame when we don’t have success. That’s life of being a quarterback, and so there’s a lot of people that deserve credit for Riley’s performance, including Riley. I’m proud of him.”

On Notre Dame defensive end Boubacar Traore’s trajectory:

“Man, he’s gotten better and better. We got him more opportunities throughout the first two games of the season, and today, he had a lot more, and made even more plays. 

“Boubacar is going to be a really, really good player. He is a good player right now. He’s going to be a great player here before we know it. He’s got a lot of ability. I love the way he works in practice. He loves practice, and he did a good job today.”

On if his conversation with NIU coach Thomas Hammock went into his preparation this week:

“It was just a private conversation between two head coaches. That happens often. That isn’t the first time I’ve talked to another head coach, but it’s just a private conversation more than anything else. That was it.”