Everything Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said after season-opening win at Texas A&M

Marcus Freeman wore his emotions on his sleeve. After the No. 20 Fighting Irish defeated No. 7 Texas A&M in College Station on Saturday night, the third-year Notre Dame head coach looked at the crowd and threw his fist toward it.

After then exiting the field by celebrating with every Irish individual in sight, Freeman vanished into the locker room and addressed the team. By the time he arrived for his postgame press conference, Freeman was rightfully spent.

“I’m exhausted,” Freeman said after pouncing on the chair on top of the podium. “I’m absolutely exhausted, probably more than our players, man.”

Here is everything Freeman told reporters over the next 10 minutes in his postgame news conference.

Opening statement:

“Man, that was a huge victory for our program over a really, really good football team. That is an impressive football team that’s going to win a lot of games. 

“I have a lot of respect for Coach (Mike) Elko. That was a good group we just faced. It wasn’t pretty. (The) defense played lights out — turnovers. And our offense, you know what, we didn’t turn the ball over. Yes, there’s a lot of things we got to work on. But man, they did a great job of at least trying to move the chains or trying to win the battlefield position. We didn’t make a detrimental mistake. I’m really proud of that group, both sides of the ball. 

“It was good for James Rendell, our punter, to get his first game. Mitch (Jeter) was big time. Mitch was clutch. There’s a lot of thought going into that field goal, whether you know, go for it on fourth or kick the field goal, and ultimately, we made the decision to kick it, and it was clutch. That sealed the game. 

“I’m proud of this team, this coaching staff, the sports performing staff — our team was prepared. They were ready. Like I said, there wasn’t many guys that went down. I don’t know if we had any guys cramping — maybe one. I don’t know. We had one guy who had to get some fluids, but these guys were ready and prepared for a battle, and that’s what it was. It was a four-quarter battle. I’m proud of this group.”

On what the win meant to him:

“We always say execution fuels emotion, and then when you have success like that, you’re emotional. Appreciate our fans. We knew right where they were going to be. I showed the players — showed the whole football program and said, ‘This is right where our fans are going to be. This is exactly what the stadium is. So we knew right where to go, and we appreciate our fans for traveling from all over the country to support us. 

“It’s just a proud moment, man. Sometimes your emotions get the best of you, but hopefully, that happens after the game, not during.” 

On if some of the decisions he made show the Notre Football program has a fearless identity:

“We want to be aggressive. We want to be attacking. If I tell our group that we want to be aggressive and attacking, I have to be that way as a coach. You got to live with sometimes, on 4th-and-2, you didn’t get it. I felt confident that we could get it. I made the decision, and that’s why we did it. 

“But I don’t want to play caution. I want to be smart. We have a plan going into the game, and this was our plan. Hey, ‘If it was one yard at this situation, we’re going for it. If it’s two yards at this situation, we’re going for it.’ But I want to be aggressive but also smart.”

On the game plan to neutralize Texas A&M defensive lineman Nic Scourton:

“It wasn’t a specific plan for him. It was, in certain situations, where we used seven-man pro instead of just five and six. But, our guys battle. Their D-line made some plays. They’re really good, man. I said that after the game. I don’t know, probably be the best we see.

“But our guys battled. Young guys that haven’t been out there —  I was proud of them. I saw one time Sam (Pendleton) missed the block, and his guy made the play, and he was able to refocus and understand, ‘That was last play, man, let’s refocus.’ We have confidence, and you go out there and do it. It was a great growing moment for this offensive line.”

On validating the team’s toughness by playing their best football in the fourth quarter:

“It’s rewarding. A lot of work went into this first game from a lot of different people. To have it go the way it did. It’s like you say it’s going to be a four-quarter game — it’s going to come down to the very last minute. But it’s never fun when it goes that way.

“But I’m proud of how we finished. At the same point like, it shows that we got a dang good football team. We got to — the head coach says, ‘Refocus and get back to work, right?’ You get 12 guaranteed opportunities. So it isn’t like you prepare a certain way for Week 1 because it’s Texas A&M, and you don’t prepare the next week for I don’t even know who we play next week — I’ll figure it out. 

“We got to prepare to really make sure we perform at a high level. Let them celebrate tonight and then get refocused tomorrow.”

On his conversations with Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard on the sideline:

“I mean, he’s a competitor. He is a competitor. He wants the ball in his hands — putting his shoulder down, and he had a bruise on his hands. I mean, he took some hits, but he’s a competitor and wants the ball in his hands. I got a lot of confidence in a guy like Riley Leonard at the end of the game — put the ball in his hands and make good decisions and lead this offense to victory.” 

On the headset communication with Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock when the offense was backed up to the 15-yard line late:

“You know what it reminded me of is the Duke game from last year, right? It was the thought process — do we tell them to go down? Something happens when we break (a run off), do we tell them to go down, or do we score? And I didn’t want to put that in his head. I didn’t want to take points off the board. 

“The analytics will probably tell you to go down. But again, as I told Denbrock, man, ‘Keep battling.’ I said, ‘We good.’ It was a lot of confidence. I remember I kept saying in the huddle, ‘This is right where we want to be. This is right what we talked about. We got a lot of confidence; now go execute on this play.’ So that was my communication.”

On whether Leonard’s performance was what he expected or game-specific:

“Yeah, for this game. Each week will change. This was exactly the game plan for our offense this game. We had to be smart versus a really good defense, and we executed really well.”

On how validating the last three years have been with freshmen, sophomores and transfers making plays in big moments:

“I wish I could take credit, but we got a lot of good coaches and good personnel that are able to attract the right kids to this place, that are either young kids or freshmen or redshirt freshmen, first or second year, guys that are helping us, or some transfers that have to fit into the culture we have, right? 

“That’s the one thing that when we talk about bringing in transfers, they have to be really good players, great players, but they have to fit the culture we have. That was a sign of what you saw out there was guys that are really good players that fit this place and this culture.”

On Notre Dame wide receiver Jordan Faison’s status after missing the second half due to injury:

“I don’t know much — he said it was an ankle. (Jordan Faison) said, ‘Coach, I’m good. I’m done for this game, but I’m good. So, I have confidence he’ll be back. I don’t know what the timetable is.”

On how the Notre Dame wide receiver room stepped up in his absence: 

“There was some guys that stepped up. We’re six deep right now, and we could be seven or eight. I’m really proud. 

“Beaux Collins did a great job. I looked at Riley a couple of times and said, ‘Hey, trust him now.’ He’s got to keep his composure after making a big play. He knows that, but you know he made some big plays. 

“Coach (Mike) Brown’s done a really good job. I want to give him a shout-out, man, with that room and getting six guys to be unselfish. It’s hard, man. Wideouts want the ball. Those dudes, those are selfish people at times. So, Coach Brown has done a great job at keeping them unselfish. They’re really taking pride in their blocking and running their routes, great and they’re taking advantage of their opportunities. So it’s really good to see. Some guys had to step up when Faison went down.”