Notre Dame Notebook: Marcus Freeman Talks Pitt Win, Chris Tyree, Xavier Watts

Don’t let the 58-7 final score fool you. Notre Dame had to grind its way to Saturday’s victory over Pittsburgh in a game that was less than pleasing to the eye at times for the Irish.

Sam Hartman threw interceptions to end a pair of promising possessions to start the game and the third Irish drive ended with a turnover on downs. The Irish led a game they were favored to win by nearly three touchdowns by just seven points for more a majority of the first half and took a 17-0 lead into halftime after failing to find the end zone just before the break.

The Fighting Irish found a way to finish, though, scoring a season-high 58 points. They did it by finishing strong.

"This is what you want, right,” Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said after his team’s lopsided win. "You want a dominant performance that our team really displayed, I think. But I think more than anything ..... defensively we've been playing well the past few games and continuing to play well. Almost finished the game with a shut out, so great to get those takeaways offensively. More than anything we needed this. We need the confidence. We were doing a good job in the first half of driving the ball down the field, but we just weren't finishing.”

Playing To Their Potential

Freeman has talked throughout the season about his team realizing its full potential. They may or may not be close to reaching that goal, but they still scored 58 points and tallied 535 yards of total offense in a game where Hartman didn’t throw a touchdown pass while the running game managed a solid but not spectacular 155 yards at 4.7 per carry.

"We're getting really close,” Freeman estimated. “The hard part about it is are you ever going to be perfect? No. But that's what we're chasing. We're chasing perfection. It's a bunch of coaches and players that aren't satisfied that constantly are striving to improve. That's the sprint. That's the sense of urgency we have to improve. It's not to just win. It's not to... all of a sudden get this outcome. It's really to improve, and we're getting closer and closer every week to reaching that full potential.”

Special Teams Impact

Notre Dame’s special teams scored two touchdowns against the Panthers. The first was an 82-yard punt return by Chris Tyree (more coming on that). The second was a muffed punt recovered by Ramon Henderson in the end zone. The pair of TDs give the Irish three special teams touchdowns in the last two weeks. It’s quite a surge for first-year special teams coach Marty Biagi.

"The biggest thing is the sense of ownership,” said Freeman. "I love going into the kickoff and kickoff return huddles, because you can feel it from the players. Let's win the interval. Let's go. Let's do our job. Don't let this guy make the play. When our players start to own it, it's not just another play. Oh, man, we got to do kickoff return or kickoff. There is an excitement and ownership of it. That's a credit to Coach Biagi that he's getting the buy in that he's hasn't wanted from the minute he got here. I love what the special teams unit is doing.”

Chris Tyree Shines

Tyree’s first quarter 82-yard punt return is Notre Dame’s first punt return to reach the end zone since CJ Sanders did it in 2015. It also makes Tyree just the fourth Notre Dame player, along with Julius Jones, Raghib Ismail and Tim Brown, to score touchdowns on a punt return, kick return, rush attempt and reception in his career. Tyree also hauled in a 47-yard pass from Hartman in his first season as a wide receiver.

"Hard work is rewarded, and you don't know when that reward is going to come,” Freeman said of Tyree. "That's what I love when you see a young man like Chris Tyree that works tirelessly. Everybody, myself included, was challenged after he dropped the ball versus Louisville. He continues to work. The last two weeks he's had opportunities to make big plays down the field and he did it. So, that's what I love about that kid. He's unselfish and works tirelessly at his craft. The rewards are seen on Saturdays.”

Xavier Watts Keeps Bolling

Safety Xavier Watts is on a roll lately. The senior intercepted his team-leading fifth and sixth passes of the season against Pitt to give him four interceptions in the last two games. He’s the first Irish player with multiple interceptions in consecutive games in 27 years. He has helped the Irish defense force nine takeaways in the last two games.

"The biggest thing is the ability to make the play when you're in position,” Freeman explained. "See a lot of guys on our team and other teams that are in position to make a play, but they don't make the play. Xavier is -- one, you have to be in position to make the play, but, two, you got to make the play. That's what he's doing.

"It's a result of a lot of different things,” Freeman continued. "The pressure our guys are getting up front. The different looks Coach (Al) Golden is doing defensively to try to confuse the offense. I think that's an outcome of a lot of the different things. But again, you have to make the play when you're in the position, and he's done that.”