Everything Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said after beating Navy

Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman addressed the media for about 15 minutes after the No. 12 Fighting Irish defeated No. 24 Navy 51-14 on Saturday at Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Here is everything Freeman said.

Opening statement:

“We challenged the group. We had to play complementary football today. That was a point of emphasis. This team (Navy) was number two in the country in turnover margin. And I just told the guys, we were plus six in the turnover margin. That’s huge. That’s a straight reflection of complementary football.

“Proud of all three phases, a lot of good. I’m sure when I meet with you again, I’m gonna tell you about the improvements that we got to make. That’s the reality of people that aren’t satisfied. We want more. We want the best, but we’re going to enjoy today.

“Proud of the way they prepared, the way they played for the most part after halftime, how we came out with a sense of urgency to continue executing on all three phases and improve. So, it’s a big win for this program. We’ll enjoy it as we go in the bye week and get ready for the next one.”

On what the Notre Dame defensive red zone plan was:

“We stopped them before the half, but then the second half, I think it was one that they did end up scoring. We had a good plan. (Defensive coordinator) Coach (Al) Golden did a great job. (The) defense did a great job.

“They (Navy) do some really difficult things on the red zone, but our offense was able to score in the red zone, and we stopped them, which was crucial, one of those times in the red zone. So, it’s a point of emphasis.

“We got to have a great plan. But it’s also a mindset when you get down there that we got to score touchdowns on offense, and we got to force them to try to field goal attempt on defense.”

On what the keys were for Notre Dame to start fast:

“I tell you this every week. Those are outcomes; Those are observations. Like, a fast start starts with a fast first play and a fast second play. Everybody evaluates — I told the team — based off flows. The flow of a season, the flow of a game. We can’t look at this thing based on flows. We got to look at this as one game, one life, one play, one life.

“That’s what I continue to preach to those guys. So the result of how we started fast was we executed on that play early in the game, and then as you look back at it, you say, ‘Okay, yeah, that was a fast start.’ But more importantly, it’s just a mindset. Win this play. It’s the only thing that matters.”

On freshman cornerback Leonard Moore stepping up:

“With the snap of a finger, you can be thrust into the spotlight. But I said this, I think, in the press conference the last time I was up there, and I said to the team, ‘You earn the trust from your teammates and your coaches first before you’re ever thrust into the spotlight.’

“Leonard Moore earned the trust through fall camp through the season. (Junior cornerback) Benjamin Morrison goes down, (Moore’s) thrust into the spotlight. Now everybody recognizes it. But he earned that through his preparation, the way he came in here as a true freshman and approached fall camp. Approach each week that way.

“So, that’s what we got to continue to tell our guys. Like, ‘Earn the trust of your teammates and your coaches first, and when you’re thrust into the spotlight, you’ll be ready to go.'”

On why he still plays clips of Notre Dame’s loss to NIU to the players:

“Listen, I don’t do it every day, but the most important thing is we can’t lose the pain. That’s what I want to make sure guys understand, is that you can’t lose the pain. I don’t want to lose the pain from that game because, at times, we are motivated by fear. At times, we are motivated by, ‘We don’t want this to repeat itself.’

“So there’s times I got to remind them of that pain so that we can make sure we don’t forget it. We got to use that. As I said, ‘We’re going to be grateful for it if we utilize it. If we learn from the lessons that it’s taught us.’

“But when you have success, sometimes you forget about that pain of what NIU left in all of our hearts and our guts. And so there’s moments that I want to reflect on that, and I don’t want them to lose it, and that’s kind of when I use it for motivation.”

On what the biggest lesson learned from the NIU game has been to this point and how much it fuels him to where they are sitting right now:

“It’s the preparation. We had … I don’t — I go back and I look at that week of preparation, and I believe the physical part was efficient, but there’s a mental preparation of mindset you have to have going in every week. That’s, to me, what I’ve learned as the head coach, our program has learned, and we got to take in that game, is there’s a mental approach. You better understand, if you don’t prepare the right way, you can lose anybody to play. And I don’t want to ever forget that.”

On what they are doing to get Notre Dame’s playmakers loose to make plays:

“I’m trying to create one-on-one matchups. I think what you’re seeing is a reflection of (offensive coordinator) Coach (Mike) Denbrock and our quarterbacks and (senior) Riley (Leonard), the growth of their relationship.

“The ability to have multiple calls coming into a play and checking to the one that we believe is going to have success. There’s a trust between the quarterback and the wideouts that’s continuing to grow. Riley’s throwing the ball with confidence. Those are some of the big play passes.

“Listen, (sophomore running back) Jeremiyah Love, kid’s going to create a big play — he’s got a chance to create a big play every time he has the ball in his hands. That’s what to me, you saw today. Some really good connections and executions between the wideouts and the quarterback, but also Jeremiyah Love being Jeremiyah Love.”

On Notre Dame junior Billy Schrauth returning to the lineup and starting at left guard:

“It’s great to have him back. He’s a heck of a player. We felt like this what was best for this game based off some of the previous evidence that we had. And we said, ‘Listen, that’s what we think is best for this offensive line and this unit, is to put Billy at left guard and keep (senior) Rocco (Spindler) at right.

“Sam (Pendleton) has done a great job in his preparation. He’s a selfless individual. He’s ready to go when his number is going to be called, but at the end of the day, each week, your role is determined by the coaches to help us achieve the outcome that we wanted. Every week, your role can change, but this is the role we needed for those offensive linemen today.”

On the Notre Dame defense playing with disciplined eyes and the linebackers feeding forward to the ball:

“I mean, this is a challenging offense that, as you look at last year and this year, obviously, there’s more (shot)gun, but there’s a lot more smoke and mirrors. There’s a lot of stuff going on pre-snap that you have to play with clearly. You have to play with clear eyes. That was a big point of emphasis.

“For the most part — not the entire game — there was plays we didn’t play with great eyes and we got exposed. But for the most part, we play with clear eyes, and it’s important to not let some of those motions and smoke and mirrors really affect where your eyes should be.”

On how big of a win it is to build momentum for the upcoming stretch of the season:

“I think that’s for you all to tell us what type of win that was for us. We achieved the outcome we wanted, right? That’s the ability to celebrate in that locker room. There’s always room to improve. I’m not satisfied. Nobody in that locker room is satisfied. We’re greedy. We want more. We want perfection.

“So, we let others tell us what type of win that was. We are going to celebrate it because a lot of people in that room put in a lot of work to achieve that. So we got to celebrate it. That’s the outcome that we aspire to have. But then we also go back to work, and we really attack some of the deficiencies that we have, and we attack some of those areas that we’ve done well in.

“But I’ll let somebody else do the description of what type of victory that was.”

On Notre Dame’s defensive approach and how they had to adjust to Navy’s passing component:

“In the past, you have a completely different defense when you play a triple option team. But when they get into the gun, it’s similar to what things you see week in and week out. So, we had to have the ability to, with the same personnel, play triple option defense, and then when they go to gun, be able to play some of the normal defense that we’ve had.

“And they still did a good job — I’m talking about Navy. They still did a good job. But Coach Golden had a wonderful game plan. Fourteen points is too much for greedy people like us, but they did a heck of a job versus an offense that hasn’t been stopped much this year.”

On when they knew Schrauth would start this week:

“We had a thought on Tuesday, but he wasn’t doing everything. He did a lot of the scouted reps. But as long as his body was going to be able to give us the reps we needed, we’re going to plan on using him as our left guard. But that was still to be determined based off Tuesday, Wednesday and ultimately, Friday.”

On if they have handled success and why that is:

“It’s hopefully a mindset that we all have, right? Handling success, I mean, we won, but we were so much more, so much more. And that goes back to what we just talked about earlier — is that mindset of what happened last week, let’s enjoy this thing.

“The outcome’s what you wanted, but the mental approach we’re taking this week is so crucial, right? Of how we can improve, and it’s got to be hard.

“Like I just told those guys, ‘You don’t improve by doing the same thing you did the week before, right? It’s human nature. Gravity takes over. You’re going to get worse.’ So we have to prepare mentally in a difficult way, physically in a difficult way for the next opponent if we want to truly elevate and improve.

“So that’s the mindset we have. Hopefully, that’s the reason why, as a whole, we’ve been handling the success that we’ve been having the past couple of weeks.”

On if there was an extra focus that helped Notre Dame take away all the fumbles:

“Yeah, we wanted an aggressive mindset, defensively. Like, I don’t want to play fitball. You know that. You hear me say it all the time. ‘I don’t want to play fitball.’ I want to be aggressive and violent on defense.

“But probably more, the emphasis was on offense because of the turnovers and fumbles they were creating on defense. And that’s probably what I’m most proud of, right? We put a huge emphasis on our scout team; every time there’s a ball carrier, try to knock it out.

“To have zero balls on the ground versus that defense is huge, huge.”

BOX SCORE: NOTRE DAME 51, NAVY 14