What Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said before USC game

Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman addressed the media for the final time before the No. 13 Fighting Irish face No. 20 USC on Saturday night (7:30 p.m. ET, TV NBC). Here is everything Freeman told reporters in an about 15-minute news conference over Zoom.

On what preparations they’ve made for possible heavy rain and lightning on Saturday

“You’ve always got to be prepared, right? That’s the one thing you can’t control is your preparation. And so we know the weather can affect game plans. The weather can affect multiple different things. From the walk from the Basilica. There could be delays, and so we’re aware.

“We have plans, and then we have to adapt and adjust. That’s more than anything. We don’t know what exactly the weather will be and what’s going to happen, but we have to make sure we have a plan, and we do for all the different scenarios that could happen.”

On how much they lean into sports science when traveling to different time zones

“Yeah, we lean into the science for what we do every day, and that includes traveling to the other coast. That includes traveling to other countries, and that includes home games. So we utilize it more than anything for planning and making adjustments, when necessary, but it’s definitely something we do when we consider traveling to different places.”

On what the meetings with special teams coordinator Marty Biagi are like and how they’ve been successful on special teams

“Yeah, I’m always excited when we feel like we have a plan to impact the game, and that’s in all three phases. But yeah, the meetings, he’s a creative individual. He’s got some guys helping that are creative too. My job, a lot of times, is to ask the hard questions like, ‘What if this happens? What if that happens?’ That’s how you figure out what the right plan is: you have to have somebody that is challenging you. That’s a part of what I do in all of our plans, in all of our phases, but in special teams too.

“At the end of the day, you come up with every great plan known to man, and you’ve got to execute it, and you got to create the conviction in your players and myself and your coaches in practice, and then you got to go execute in the game.

“So that’s how that whole process works. Again, it’s a challenge for Coach Biagi to continue to find ways to have impact plays in the game because teams are expecting it. Now, you’ve done enough on film that teams will have a plan. So, how do you continue to find a way to impact the game knowing that teams are expecting you to do something unique?”

On what he’s seen from quarterback Tyler Buchner bringing the quarterback room together, and his niche on special teams

“Tyler’s got a valuable role, and in terms of being the field goal holder, what we did with him last week on special teams, and he’ll continue to have a role for this team.

“I’m really pleased to hear (that). I’m not always in that quarterback room and in those quarterback meetings, but for a guy that has experience at multiple different places and multiple different roles, to know that he’s impacting that quarterback’s room is, for me, more valuable than anything.

“The ability to make your teammates better is invaluable, and when I hear you make that statement, that’s what I think of. So we’re grateful to have him on our team, and he embraces the role that he’s been given, and hopefully he continues to have roles that are impacting the game.”

On what Notre Dame redshirt sophomore wide receiver KK Smith can bring to the table as an offensive weapon

“KK is a guy that has game-changing speed. He has a lot of speed. He’s fast, he’s improving at his route running. He’s making contested catches, he’s doing a good job blocking. He is starting to have some special teams value. There’s a lot of things KK brings to this team that help us on the football field.”

On who he needs to step up with Notre Dame DL Gabriel Rubio and Loghan Thomas being out, and Elijah Hughes‘ emergence

“Yeah, we’ve had a committee of defensive tackles. Obviously, you don’t want to lose Gabe just from experience, from a production, from a veteran guy, but you have a lot of confidence in those guys in that room and spreading out that production amongst a couple guys. Everybody’s got to step up a little bit more, right?

“[Jason] Onye, Donnie (Donivan Hinish), Jared Dawson, Elijah Hughes, Cole Mullins, like all those guys will have to continue to elevate their game. And the same thing with LT, with Loghan Thomas — the value he brings more than anything on special teams is something that not many people talk about. He’s a great special teams player for us and can come down there on some pass rush situations that we’re going to have to find a good replacement for that role.”

On the final decision on a starting center and whether having an inexperienced center adjusts some pre-sap decision making on the offensive front

“Joe Otting will be our starting center. He’s had a great week of prep. There really hasn’t been any adjustments that we’ve had to make. He’s been ready to go in knowing if in case that Ashton [Craig] got hurt.

“Now, all those things are great, but you got to go out and do it in the game. He’s had some in-game experience, but this is going out; this will be his first time starting. Like any first time, there’s always going to be some ups and downs, but we are very confident in what he can do and what he’s being asked to do and he’s going to do a good job when he gets in there.”

On what the threshold is for getting plays right in practice, and knowing they won’t get it wrong during the games

“There is no black and white bar because young people make mistakes, coaches make mistakes, but you got to do it enough that you have confidence that you can do it in the game. That you’re going to execute. That you’re not going to get it wrong.

“I wish I could tell you that there’s been a game that it was perfect, and it hasn’t been that, period, in my career of playing or coaching. So you can’t rep something one time or maybe tell somebody, ‘Hey, if this happens, this is what we would do,’ and not practice it and have confidence that it’s going to be executed in the game.

“Usually, I think more importantly, you look at the mistakes that happen in games and you go back and say, ‘Why? Where did we have a preparation error, right?’ Somebody went the wrong way on a play. Well, we didn’t rep it enough, or we didn’t teach him enough, or he didn’t study it enough one-on-one and with his coach.

“So you look for more — you more so look at — OK, we didn’t execute. Let’s go back and look at our process to Saturday and see where we failed and make sure that we enhance that preparation. So I don’t think there’s a clear line that says ‘we got it.’ You just got to continue to rep it and rep it and then identify the problems after they happen and say, ‘OK, where in our process did we fail?’

On whether Notre Dame redshirt junior right tackle Aamil Wagner is not playing at the same level as he did last year

“No, personally — I don’t — it’s hard for me to compare what he’s doing now to last year. I don’t — I’m always a guy that’s just, we got to keep getting better. As I said previously, I have the utmost confidence in our whole entire offensive line, but Aamil Wagner, because if you didn’t, you should replace him, right? If you don’t have confidence in a guy, why is he out there?

“So we have the utmost confidence, but we’re always looking for ways to improve. And that’s every person. That’s Aamil, that’s myself. Like, how do we continuously find ways to improve?

“And so, you’ve heard me say before, I let go of the past, right. You let go of the past because you believe there’s better in the future. Like people hold on to the past because they think maybe that’s the only thing — that’s going to be as good as it gets. So I’ve let go. I don’t know how he did last year, but I know that he’s going to continue to get better, and I’m excited to see him on Saturday.”

On whether Notre Dame redshirt sophomore Sullivan Absher practiced at center and if he’s an option at that position for the game

“No, no. Cam Heron will be the backup for Joe Otting.”

On USC QB Jayden Maiava’s quick release and how it impacts the Notre Dame defense getting pressure

“I think he’s gotten sacked twice, maybe. You’re not going to get many sacks when he gets the ball out of his hands that fast.

“So we have to try to do a good job of not letting him know exactly what defense we’re going to be in pre-snap. You have to try to make him read your defense and go to his second or third progression. That’s how you get pressure, and you get sacks, because the quarterback has to hold onto the ball a little bit longer.

“So we’ve got to try to challenge them to do that. They do a good job of helping him have clarity in his reads, and he’s doing a good job of executing what they’re asking him to do. So it’s a great challenge for us that we’re looking forward to seeing how we can get them to hold it on Saturday.”

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